After more than two decades of operations in Guyana, Esso Exploration company (EEPGL), which is a subsidiary of ExxonMobil, has accumulated G$2.3 trillion in assets, its Vice President, Phillip Rietema has reported.
He explained that should the company require additional financing to respond to adverse events such as an oil spill, it has access to additional funds through its foreign affiliate companies, including U.S oil giant ExxonMobil.
Mr Rietema made the disclosure at a recent press briefing, indicating that contrary to reports that Esso Exploration is an “asset less company,” the company has racked up more than $2 trillion in assets.
“It couldn’t be further from the truth. As I described, you could see on the financial statements, $2.3 trillion of assets. So, we are far from an assetless company as you can find,” he said.
Mr Reitema said in 2022 alone, Esso Exploration invested approximately G$1 trillion into its operations in Guyana, which included the production of oil and gas in the Stabroek Block.
Together with its co-venturers, HESS and CNOOC, the oil company invested more than G$4 trillion in the Stabroek Block, and has committed to invest an additional G$4 trillion through 2027 in additional projects including the Gas-to-Energy Project.
“The assets that you see on the balance sheet did in fact increased by a trillion Guyanese dollar. You can see that in the financial statements, that’s about an 80% increase year over year. We don’t have projections that I can share for 2023 but as I said we are committed over the next five years as a CoV group to invest, another $4 trillion, so you would expect that as Payara and Yellowtail come online in the future, the assets would increase overtime,” the company’s vice president said.
But even with the massive investments, the company had no need to secure financial loans, thanks to its affiliate companies. According to Mr Reitema, Esso Exploration secures its finances through equity contributions.
“To date, all of our capitals are sourced through equity contributions to ExxonMobil Guyana. We have no loans as you can see on the balance sheet,” he told reporters.
According to EEPGL’s 2022 Financial Statement, the company received an equity contribution of $39.2B in 2022. In 2021, its equity contribution totalled $42.2B.
Just recently, the company together with its co-venturers lodged a US$2B affiliate company guarantee with the Environment Protection Agency (EP) to cover any expense that may rise, should there be an oil spill in the Stabroek Block.
The company is opposed to having an unlimited parent company guarantee or an unlimited affiliate guarantee in place.
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