GACN Statement: CERAWeek, a Mysterious Award, and the Fleecing of Guyana’s Oil Wealth
**FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE**
**Guyana Anti-Corruption Agency (GACN)**
**Date:** March 25, 2026
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## A Minister Absent When His Ministry Is Under Fire
While Minister of Natural Resources Vickram Bharrat poses for photographs at CERAWeek in Houston this week—accepting a vaguely defined “Diplomatic Excellence Honoree” award—his ministry is failing on multiple fronts back home. The Guyana Anti-Corruption Agency (GACN) finds it necessary to ask: what exactly is being celebrated in Houston, and at whose expense?
Our recent investigative reporting on **Marudi Mountain** has documented the alarming proliferation of illegal mining and other illicit activities in the region—activities that fall squarely under Minister Bharrat’s purview. Yet instead of addressing the breakdown of regulatory oversight in Guyana’s interior, the Minister is accepting accolades in a luxury hotel in Texas.
The contrast is not merely inconvenient—it is emblematic of a governance crisis that has come to define the stewardship of Guyana’s resource wealth.
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## A Mystery Award with No Description
The GACN has reviewed the official CERAWeek program and website for 2026. Nowhere does the conference list a “Diplomatic Excellence Honoree” award. No description of the criteria, no announcement of the selection process, no public acknowledgment of what this award is meant to signify.
**We ask: who created this award? Who selected Minister Bharrat? And what, exactly, is being rewarded?**
In the absence of any public documentation, the GACN is compelled to consider an alternative explanation: that this award is a manufactured bauble—a ploy to reward a pliable minister while using him as a vehicle to further fleece the nation. CERAWeek is a gathering of the global energy elite, where billions of dollars in contracts are shaped in private boardrooms. A minister who returns home with a trophy may be more inclined to return favors to those who arranged the honor.
This is not speculation; it is the pattern of how influence is cultivated in extractive industries worldwide. When an award materializes without transparency, the GACN treats it as a red flag.
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## 2% Royalties: The Great Giveaway
Let us recall what Minister Bharrat is supposed to be defending. Under the 2016 Production Sharing Agreement signed by the previous administration and never revisited by this one, **Guyana receives only 2% royalties** on its vast oil reserves—an estimated 11 billion barrels of oil equivalent discovered to date.
Two percent.
By comparison, most oil‑producing nations command royalties between 10% and 20%. The result is that ExxonMobil and its partners have extracted tens of billions of dollars in value from Guyana’s resources while the Guyanese people receive a fraction of what is rightfully theirs.
When Minister Bharrat accepts an award in Houston, he does so surrounded by the very executives who negotiated this lopsided arrangement. The GACN asks: is the “diplomatic excellence” being honored the excellence of defending Guyana’s interests—or the excellence of not troubling the oil majors?
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## The Audit Scandals: Fleecing by the Billions
If the 2% royalty was the original sin, what has followed is a sustained pattern of obfuscation and delay that has prevented Guyana from recovering even a cent of the billions of dollars in improperly claimed expenses.
### US$214 Million Dispute Lingers for Years
The first cost oil audit, conducted by IHS Markit, covered the period 1999 to 2017 and examined US$1.67 billion in expenses claimed by ExxonMobil. The audit found that **US$214 million of those expenses were questionable**—lacking supporting documentation or otherwise not allowable under the Production Sharing Agreement.
That audit was completed in 2021. **It is now 2026. Five years later, Guyana has not recovered a single dollar.**
The dispute over this US$214 million has become a case study in how the government has allowed ExxonMobil to dictate terms. Most damningly, it was revealed that **officials at the Ministry of Natural Resources—the very ministry Minister Bharrat oversees—entered into unauthorized negotiations with ExxonMobil to reduce the US$214 million figure to a mere US$3 million**.
The Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) had explicitly stated that the US$214 million figure should stand. Yet ministry officials bypassed the GRA and attempted to settle for a tiny fraction of what was owed. The scandal was only exposed when the *Stabroek News* published the details. Only then did President Ali order an investigation, which resulted in a senior official being docked 15 days’ pay—a slap on the wrist that mocks the scale of the attempted giveaway.
### No Progress on the Sole Expert
The Production Sharing Agreement provides for a “Sole Expert” to resolve such disputes. Yet after years of delay, ExxonMobil and the government have still not agreed on a candidate. Exxon has reportedly insisted on an expert who has previously done extensive contract work for the company—raising undeniable concerns about conflict of interest—while rejecting the government’s nominee.
As recently as March 2026, ExxonMobil Guyana President Alistair Routledge acknowledged that the selection process remains “ongoing,” with no timeline for completion. Meanwhile, the US$214 million remains in Exxon’s pocket, generating returns for the company instead of funding schools, hospitals, and infrastructure for Guyanese citizens.
### US$28.5 Billion in Audits, Zero Recovery
The situation is even worse when the full scope is considered. In total, Guyana has commissioned audits covering **US$28.5 billion in claimed expenses** across multiple audit periods. The second audit, covering 2018 to 2020, found another US$64 million in questionable expenses. A third audit has been completed but not yet released to the public.
As prominent Guyanese attorney and chartered accountant Christopher Ram recently observed, **“We are rapidly extracting and selling the country’s first oil while the audit process drags on in secrecy. That is backwards.”** Ram further warned that the Liza fields may run dry before any audit is completed, a scenario that would leave Guyanese with nothing but depleted resources and unrecovered billions.
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## A Government Afraid to Act
The GACN has repeatedly documented how political loyalty and fear of displeasing ExxonMobil have paralyzed the government’s oversight functions. The Minister of Natural Resources has outsourced critical audit responsibilities to the GRA—an agency not designed for this purpose—while the Ministry itself has shown more willingness to negotiate against Guyana’s interests than to defend them.
Chris Ram put it bluntly in a recent analysis: **“The Government and President Ali seem afraid to speak to Exxon as a sovereign power… The State signed the Petroleum Agreement. It is the State, acting through the Minister responsible for petroleum, that must assert and defend its rights under that Agreement. Those responsibilities cannot be outsourced or quietly shifted to another agency simply because the Government is afraid to displease Exxon.”**
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## A Pattern of Impunity
The GACN’s reporting on Marudi Mountain revealed a similar pattern: illegal operators flourish while the Ministry fails to enforce basic regulations. The same lack of accountability that allows illicit mining in the interior allows the fleecing of oil revenues by multinational corporations.
Minister Bharrat’s presence at CERAWeek, accepting an award that exists only on paper, fits this pattern perfectly. It is governance as performance: the appearance of international engagement masking the reality of capitulation at home.
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## Reference Table: Key Numbers in Guyana’s Oil & Gas Sector
*All figures are derived from publicly available audit reports, official government statements, and investigative reporting. The GACN makes this table available for easy reference and copying.*
| Item | Amount / Figure | Notes / Source |
|——|—————-|—————-|
| **Royalty rate under 2016 PSA** | **2%** | One of the lowest in the world; comparable nations typically charge 10–20% |
| **Estimated recoverable oil resources** | **11 billion barrels** (oil equivalent) | Stabroek Block discoveries as of 2026 |
| **Total expenses claimed by ExxonMobil (audited periods)** | **US$28.5 billion** | Combined value of audits covering 1999–2017 and 2018–2020; third audit completed but unreleased |
| **Questionable expenses (first audit, 1999–2017)** | **US$214 million** | IHS Markit audit; expenses lacked documentation or violated PSA terms |
| **Questionable expenses (second audit, 2018–2020)** | **US$64 million** | Additional amount flagged; total disputed exceeds US$278 million |
| **Unauthorized settlement offer from Ministry officials** | **US$3 million** | Ministry attempted to settle US$214 million dispute for this amount; exposed by *Stabroek News* |
| **Years since first audit completed** | **5 years** | Audit finished in 2021; no recovery of any disputed amount as of March 2026 |
| **Time to select “Sole Expert” for dispute resolution** | **Ongoing since 2021** | No agreement reached; Exxon reportedly insists on conflicted candidate |
| **Number of audits completed but not released** | **1** | Third audit results remain withheld from public |
| **Days of pay docked to senior Ministry official** | **15 days** | Penalty after unauthorized settlement attempt was uncovered |
| **CERAWeek “Diplomatic Excellence Honoree” award** | **No description on official site** | GACN could find no criteria, process, or public record of this award |
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## Call to Action
We call on the government to:
1. **Publicly disclose the full terms and origin of the “Diplomatic Excellence Honoree” award**—who created it, who selected the recipient, and what, if any, commitments were made in connection with it;
2. **Immediately release all outstanding audit reports**, including the third audit of ExxonMobil’s expenses, to the Guyanese public;
3. **Cease all unauthorized negotiations with ExxonMobil** and refer the US$214 million dispute to binding arbitration without further delay;
4. **Reopen negotiations on the 2016 Production Sharing Agreement** to secure a fair royalty rate for the Guyanese people; and
5. **Address the governance failures at Marudi Mountain** with the same urgency the Minister devotes to international conferences.
Until these steps are taken, the GACN will continue to document how Guyana’s natural resources are being managed not for the benefit of its citizens, but for the benefit of a cosy partnership between a compliant government and the world’s largest oil company.
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*The Guyana Anti-Corruption Agency (GACN) is an independent watchdog dedicated to investigating corruption and advocating for transparency in the management of Guyana’s public resources. Full reporting on Marudi Mountain and other cases can be found at **guyanaintegrity.com**.*
**CONTACT:**
Guyana Anti-Corruption Agency
media@guyanaintegrity.com
guyanaintegrity.com
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