Before proceeding with today’s article, a brief comment is appropriate in relation to recent statements made by Floyd Haynes on a Kaieteur News radio programme on the audit of Exxon’s post-contract costs covering the period 2018-2020. He stated that the amount of expenditure his team is required to audit is approximately US$7.3 billion and not US$9 billion, as reported in the print media, which he considered misleading.
We do not wish to doubt the figure quoted by Mr. Haynes, having now immersed himself into the audit. It is, however, unclear whether the amount to be audited was reflected in the bidding documents, or in the contract that was subsequently entered into. Suffice it to state that, in the absence of publicly available information as to the actual amount involved, the media would have relied on other sources. For example, it was Guyana’s Vice President at a press conference in November 2020 who had indicated a figure of US$20 billion: ‘The post-contract costs are the bulk of it…we are talking upwards of (US$) 20B that have to be reviewed. It is a task we have to come around it. That is looking out for national interest.’ See https://www.stabroeknews.com/2020/11/09/news/guyana/audit-of-exxonmobils-us460m-pre-contract-costs-completed-statia/.