The issue of upfront payments from ExxonMobil was not discussed when a team of executives from the US oil company met a government team yesterday, according to Minister of Natural Resources Raphael Trotman.
“Insofar as upfront payments requests, that was not done by his Excellency the President. It never came up,” Trotman said in response to a question from Stabroek News at a press conference yesterday. Last November, Trotman had said that government plans to seek pre-commercial production payments from ExxonMobil to fund a number of projects but while the discussion is not happening at this time, it must happen. He subsequently denied that he had said so but a recording of his comments proved otherwise.
In May, ExxonMobil reported a “significant oil discovery” at
