Dear Editor,
Since February 16, 2025, the Sunday Stabroek has published a series of weekly letters by the Oil and Gas Governance Network Guyana (OGGN) querying the questionable tax practices by oil companies and urging the Government of Guyana, its ministers, and public servants to answer questions regarding the flow of oil-related tax payments.
Under the 2016 Petroleum Agree-ment—commonly known as the Pro-duction Sharing Agreement (PSA)—between the Government of Guyana and ExxonMobil Guyana Limited (EMGL), a subsidiary of Exxon-Mobil, along with Hess Corporation and China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), the government agreed to pay the oil companies’ income taxes from Guyana’s share of oil revenues. Specifically:
Article 15.4 of the PSA states that the Minister responsible for Petroleum (i.e., the Minister of Natural Resources) shall pay income taxes on behalf of the Contractor (i.e., ExxonMobil and its affiliates) and that this sum will be considered part of the Contractor’s income.
Article 15.5 specifies that the Minister must ensure the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) issues tax receipts and certificates confirming these payments.
In effect, ExxonMobil and its partners do not remit income taxes directly to the Government of Guy-ana. Instead, the government claims to pay these taxes on their behalf of the consortium using some un-named fund. The GRA then provides official documentation of these payments to satisfy tax authorities in foreign jurisdictions, such as the United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS). This arrangement effectively exempts the oil companies from paying corporate and income taxes in Guyana, while enabling them to claim tax credits abroad.
However, this contractual arrangement raises serious legal concerns. The law that governs the use of Guyana’s oil revenues—the Natural Resource Fund (NRF) Act—does not authorize the use of oil funds to pay taxes on behalf of corporations.
The NRF Act, originally passed in 2019 and revised by the current administration in 2021, establishes the rules for the management, investment, and spending of Guyana’s oil wealth. It was created to ensure transparency, accountability, and sustainable use of petroleum revenues for the benefit of both current and future generations. Under the Act, all oil revenues—whether from royalties, profit oil, or other sources—must be deposited into the NRF, Guyana’s sovereign wealth fund.
Section 16(2) of the NRF Act explicitly states that all withdrawals from the Fund must be deposited into the Consolidated Fund and used only to finance:
(a) national development priorities, including any initiative aimed at realizing an inclusive green economy; and
(b) essential projects that are directly related to mitigating the effects of a major natural disaster.
Nowhere does the Act authorize the use of oil revenues to pay taxes on behalf of private corporations. This creates a clear legal conflict between the NRF Act and the tax-related provisions of the 2016 PSA. If oil revenues are used to subsidize the taxes of multinational oil companies, it risks undermining both the intent and letter of the NRF Act, which was designed to ensure that Guyana’s oil wealth serves specified aspects of the public good.
The Attorney General (AG) and Minister of Legal Affairs serves as the principal legal advisor to the Government of Guyana. As the Chief Legal Officer, the AG is responsible for overseeing the drafting, vetting, and interpretation of legislation, ensuring that all laws are constitutionally sound and consistent with the legal framework of the country.
As noted above, the current administration revised and passed the updated NRF Act in December 2021. While the primary responsibility for presenting the Bill to the National Assembly rested with Dr. Ashni Singh, Senior Minister in the Office of the President with Responsibility for Finance, the Attorney General played an essential supporting role in its legal review and vetting. It was the AG’s responsibility to ensure the legislation’s legal consistency and coherence with existing obligations and international norms.
Given the apparent contradiction between the 2016 PSA and the NRF Act (2021) with regard to tax payments on behalf of oil companies, we respectfully request Attorney General Nandlall to clarify the following key points for the public:
How can the Government of Guyana fulfill its contractual obligations regarding tax payments to ExxonMobil and its partners under the 2016 PSA without violating the spending restrictions imposed by the NRF Act (2021)?
Why did the Attorney General, acting as the Government’s Chief Legal Advisor, not recommend the inclusion of tax payments as a third lawful category of spending under the revised NRF Act?
What is the legal basis that empowers the Commissioner-General of the Guyana Revenue Authority to issue tax certificates on behalf of oil companies when those taxes are not paid by the companies themselves, but rather by the government?
Given that Section 103 of the Income Tax Act requires tax compliance certificates to be issued only when a taxpayer satisfies all tax obligations, what kind of documentation—such as validated transfers from the NRF to the Consolidated Fund or budgeted allocations—must the Minister of Natural Resources provide to the GRA to meet this standard?
Why is there no independent audit or verification process in place for the Government’s tax payments on behalf of the oil companies, and where can the public access documentation confirming these payments?
What verification process does the Government of Guyana have in place to validate the issuance of tax credit documentation to foreign tax authorities?
At a time when transparency and public accountability are more critical than ever, Guyanese citizens are entitled to clear answers about how their country’s oil wealth is being managed, spent, and reported. We urge the Attorney General to clarify the legal basis for these practices and to ensure that all actions taken by the government are in full compliance with the laws of Guyana. The people of Guyana have a right to know that their national resources are being governed with integrity, transparency, and in the public interest.
Sincerely,
Andre Brandli
Alfred Bhulai
Janette Bulkan
Kenrick Hunte
Darshanand Khusial
Joe Persaud
For the Oil and Gas Governance Network Guyana (OGGN) [www.oggn.org]
