No verification of the US$4.4 billion development cost for ExxonMobil’s Liza Phase-1 project was done by the Guyana Government or its regulatory agencies as they relied on a technical examination of the plan, which had been submitted by the company and its affiliates before granting a historic production licence.
The absence of any verification of the US$4.4 billion figure was confirmed to the Sunday Stabroek by the Head of Guyana Geology and Mines Commission, Newell Dennison, and comes in the aftermath of concerns by former petroleum adviser to the government Dr Jan Mangal that the government might have surrendered huge sums of the country’s money to ExxonMobil in not challenging the figure.
There also continue to be questions about whether the government is capable of evaluating the US$460 million in pre-contract costs that ExxonMobil has levelled against it, amidst longstanding concerns that it has allowed the company to dictate terms to it.
