Kaieteur News acknowledges the June 22, 2025 statement issued by the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR), attempting to address the growing disquiet over the discrepancy between Guyana’s reported oil revenues of US$2.6 billion and the US$10+ billion in profits declared by the Stabroek Block co-venturers.

Unfortunately, the Ministry’s response is inadequate, evasive, and in places, dangerously misleading.

As a refresher for all readers, the issue at hand is how in a 50:50 profit sharing partnership, and with ExxonMobil’s own financials for 2024 as the basis, there is this ongoing effort to obscure how the consortium received US$10.4 billion, and Guyana’s share was US$2.6 billion. Of note, is how ExxonMobil first sat on this for almost three weeks, and then influenced MNR to do what is nothing but lapdog duty for it. Meanwhile, investors reading the co-venturers handsome 2024 profit numbers from Guyana could have made investment decisions based on those same profit numbers being carried in the international media.

While the Ministry is technically correct in distinguishing between “profit oil” under the PSA and “accounting profit” under IFRS, this is a distraction from the real and urgent problem: the total lack of transparency in the financial disclosures of the oil companies operating in Guyana. The public has been given no data on:

• the number of lifts allocated to each party,

• the split between cost oil and profit oil,

• or how much of the revenue claimed as cost recovery relates to current-year expenditure versus the recovery of prior years’ unrecovered costs.

This opacity raises serious doubts about the credibility of the financials. Under the PSA, up to 75% of oil revenue can be taken as cost recovery, but as the respective statements, the public has no way of knowing whether the contractors’ declarations are reasonable, let alone accurate. Even more troubling is the fact that these profit declarations are being paraded in the international press – and are being taken at face value by analysts, investors, and even potential acquirers like Chevron. Yet these same financial statements, audited by the same firm, vary wildly in structure and disclosure. This inconsistency alone should raise red flags.

It is of deep concern that the Ministry of Natural Resources as the regulator of the petroleum sector is treading on dangerous grounds when it tries to explain or justify the private financial reporting of ExxonMobil, Hess, or CNOOC. These companies are legally and commercially separate from the State of Guyana. It is inappropriate and arguably irresponsible for the Government to act as their public relations arm. Instead, the Ministry should be demanding that these oil companies publish standardised, consistent, and complete disclosures so the Guyanese people can assess whether they are receiving a fair deal.

Until that happens, these financial statements and the Government’s attempt to explain them must be regarded as inadequate, misleading, and potentially damaging to Guyana’s international reputation. If the Government continues to accept this level of opacity and inconsistency, it sends the wrong signal – that Guyana is indifferent to accountability in the management of its most valuable natural resource.

We therefore call on the Ministry to:

1. Publicly acknowledge that current financial disclosures by the Stabroek Block operators are unsatisfactory.

2. That Guyanese, as the owners of the country’s petroleum resources have a right to know why and how the country’s share of the proceeds from the Stabroek Block differ by a factor of almost 5:1 in favour of the oil companies.

3. Demand that the oil companies publish full and harmonised financial statements, clearly distinguishing between cost recovery (current and past) and actual period profit.

4. Recognise that failure to do so may bring Guyana into disrepute in international financial, development, and anti-corruption fora.

This is no longer a technical issue. It is a test of the Government’s commitment to transparency and its duty to protect the patrimony of the Guyanese people.

Original link posted by Kaieteur News on June 24, 2025.