ExxonMobil commits to transparency

…promises to make all payments to Govt public

Country Manager of ExxonMobil, Rod Henson, has committed the company – gearing for commercial oil production in 2020 – to the principles of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) which its headquartered in Oslo, Norway.

Henson was at the time addressing participants at first ever Guyana EITI outreach workshop held in Corriverton, Berbice, on Saturday at the City Inn Hotel.

According to the ExxonMobil Country Representative, Guyana’s participation as an EITI member will promulgate greater transparency and accountability in the oil sector, since the full payments made to Government by ExxonMobil will have to be made public.

Government under the EITI mechanism will also be responsible for making its revenue received from ExxonMobil public in order to be verified by international third party auditors.

According to the ExxonMobil Country representative, Guyana being an EITI member will hold oil companies operating in Guyana accountable and in fact encourages a level playing field among the competitors.

Henson was at the time addressing members the Berbice Community including its Mayor and Deputy Mayor, Members of the Upper Corentyne Chambers of Commerce, Orealla/Siparuta Toshao and other members of the business community.

According to the ExxonMobil Country Manager, the core of the EITI mechanism is the reporting of revenues paid and received coupled with reconciliation by international third party assessors.

He conceded “that’s what most people want to know, where the money going.”

According to Henson, the EITI initiative is good since it encourages transparency and facilitates a better dialogue with civil society, since the public would be in possession of information in relation to payments by the oil companies and monies received by Government – information that can be trusted.

Speaking to the benefits of such an initiative, the Country Manager told participants all countries rich and poor requires investments and being a member of an EITI country bodes well since it sends a signal to investors that the country is committed to the principles of transparency and accountability.

He said too the EITI initiative in fact “lowers our industry risk in this area.”

Henson used the occasion to remind that the extractive industry is in fact very capital intensive, with large sums of money being invested hence companies engaged in such activities would require long-term stability.

“EITI improves Government accountability and revenues to State… it can be an anti-corruption tool… in general it raises the standard of business.”

The ExxonMobil Country Representative was quick to point out that the EITI forum is not where the dialogue between civil society begins since it only supplies factual information that can be trusted, “so that society can use the information to have a dialogue.”

Henson also used the occasion during an interactive session to concede the heightened interest in the oil and gas sector but declined to dictate in anyway how the money will be managed by the country since Guyana is a sovereign country.

“What will be done with the money, as a company I can’t tell the Government what to do,” according to the ExxonMobil Country Manager.

He was quick to point out that ExxonMobil is interested in what obtains since “our reputation depend on it… We know that the oil curse, Dutch disease is a real thing… we don’t want it, we don’t want to look back 20 years on and say Guyana is another example.”

Government representative on the GY-EITI Multistakeholder Group, Gillian Pollard, in her contribution to the outreach sought to impress on the participants the level of contribution of the extractive industry to Guyana’s Gross Domestic Product.