More than a year after it first saw the IHS Markit audit of the US$460m in pre-contract costs claimed by ExxonMobil’s subsidiary, EEPGL, the PPP/C government says it is finalizing queries of “lumped” sums and investigating costs of items such as risers and the process should be completed in weeks.
Questions have been asked as to why the IHS Markit report has not yet been released and why the government was so dilatory in finalizing it considering that this was the first opportunity to probe expense claims by ExxonMobil. Moreover, at least US$9.5b in post-contract claims also have to be audited and an enormous backlog has been created which has seen the government scrambling to mobilise local accounting firms to participate in the process. Disallowed ExxonMobil expenses could result in increased profit oil to Guyana.