Vice President, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo along with ExxonMobil Guyana have refuted allegations made by Kaieteur News that the US oil giant has been using crude oil from Guyana’s Stabroek Block to fuel its operations, without proper oversight.
During his press conference on Thursday, Jagdeo was questioned by reporters from the publication, suggesting that Exxon might be exploiting a loophole in the 2016 Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) to use an unlimited amount of oil for its own purposes.
According to the newspaper, Exxon has been given the freedom to use an unspecified amount of oil as per Article 11.9 of the PSA, which allows the contractor to “use in any Petroleum Operations as much of the production as may reasonably be required.” The newspaper argued that this lack of transparency opens the door for the company to potentially misuse the oil, with no clear record of how much is being utilized.
It likened the situation to “men picking your coconuts” without any oversight to ensure the amount they take is reasonable. The publication also claimed that while data on gas flaring and water production has been made public, there is still no independent verification of how much oil is being used for Exxon’s operations. It was also pointed out that the government has yet to install independent meters on the FPSO vessels to verify the daily rate of production.
Jagdeo addressed the issue, making it clear that Exxon is not using the crude oil produced in the Stabroek Block for its operations. “Earlier I said, and I think it still stands, that they are not using any of the production for that purpose. For generating power and powering their FPSOs (floating production storage and offloading vessels).”
In a separate statement, ExxonMobil Guyana also pushed back against the allegations, emphasizing that the company operates with government oversight at every stage. “Contrary to assertions repeatedly made by Kaieteur News this week, government representatives are present to witness every offshore oil lift – both their own, and those of the Stabroek block consortium.”
“Simply put, none of the consortium members can lift oil without a government witness present,” Exxon added.
Exxon also reiterated that all relevant data, including oil lifts and meter readings, are monitored by the government. The company added that the metering systems on their Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessels meet or exceed international industry standards, countering claims by Kaieteur News that Exxon had refused to provide raw production data during audits of its 2018 and 2020 expenses.
