…renames document and claims “final report” available
Kaieteur News- The Ministry of Natural Resources on Friday responded to an article by Kaieteur News, questioning the delayed publication of the final report on ExxonMobil’s US$7.3B audit.
That audit was conducted by a local consortium, VHE Consulting, for the period 2018 to 2020. In its May 16, 2025 edition, Kaieteur News reported that six months after the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) gave clearance for the final report to be made public, the document remains a mystery.
The article came on the heels of a series of questions to responsible authorities, including Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo, Natural Resources Minister Vickram Bharrat and Senior Petroleum Coordinator Bobby Gossai on the release of the report.
On May 15, Gossai shared a link with Kaieteur News to the “initial audit report”, which was at the time available on the Ministry’s website. See link attached: https://petroleum.gov.gy/documents/vhes-initial-audit-report-stabroek-block-cost-recovery-audit-2018-2020
The document, now removed from the Ministry’s website, was titled ‘VHE’s “Initial” Audit Report for the Stabroek Block Cost Recovery Audit – 2018 to 2020’. It is important to note that this report was published by the GoG since last year April. Moreover, as clearly stated in the title, that document is not the “final report” approved by the GRA for publication. This information was also brought to the attention of Gossai, who committed to checking on what was available.
With no further clarifications provided by the Ministry on the document, it later issued a statement describing the article as “hysterical”. Notably, government shared a new link, this time to a report titled ‘VHE’s Audit Report for the Stabroek Block Cost Recovery Audit – 2018 to 2020’.
It said, “For the removal of all doubt, the Ministry wishes to inform that the final report is in fact available on the website for public perusal via this link: https://petroleum.gov.gy. This document is also with ExxonMobil Guyana Limited and its partners for review and response.”
A comparison of the “initial report” and the new document by the Ministry revealed no significant changes. In fact, both reports flagged US$65,193,546.93 as disputed costs. They both contain the same number of pages, along with identical findings and conclusions by the audit team.
The suspicious removal of the first report by the Ministry and subsequent renaming and replacement of the document raise serious concerns about the management of the country’s oil and gas sector. It would be recalled that in November last year, the Commissioner General of the Revenue Authority, Godfrey Statia, informed this publication that the local consortium, VHE Consulting, has been instructed to release the finalised second audit for the company’s expenses. Subsequently, it was reported that Natural Resources Minister Vickram Bharrat assured that the report would be made public the following week, prompting this newspaper to seek updates on the document. It is important to note that the audit report available on the Ministry’s website is dated April 12, 2024, raising further questions, given the GRA’s instruction in November last year for the final report to be published.
Original link posted by Kaieteur News on March 19, 2025.
