Oil audits – silence protects Guyanese interests

Aug 30, 2026 Editorial, News

(Kaieteur News) – The Government of Guyana has now adopted a new posture on audits of ExxonMobil’s spending. “Silence protects your interests,” according to the Ministry of Natural Resources. Silence did nothing of the sort before, harmed the interests of citizens, and has made citizens increasingly skeptical.

The British audit firm IHS Markit did what we believe was a proper audit of ExxonMobil’s expenses for the period 1999-2017. From US$1.67B in spending claimed by ExxonMobil, IHS Markit flagged US$214M in findings. It is now over five years since the final audit report was submitted, and those findings are still unresolved. There was a development, though, that occurred under the cover of dark, which reduced the findings of the British audit firm from US$214M to US$3M. It was a mystery development that would have cost Guyana approximately over US$100M, if it was not broadcast by this paper and other media. A storm of protests resulted and, just as mysteriously as US$214M in audit findings was engineered down to US$3M, it was made to bounce back to the original US$214M in disputed expenses claimed by ExxonMobil.