Almost a year after ExxonMobil Guyana and the Government of Guyana, through the Guyana Revenue Authority, agreed to select a Sole Expert to resolve the dispute over the US$214 million in questionable expenses claimed by Exxon, there has been no selection of that Expert to date.

The selection of a Sole Expert to intervene in disputes is covered under the Stabroek Block Production Sharing Agreement (PSA),

At a press conference on Thursday, ExxonMobil Guyana President, Alistair Routledge, said the process is still ongoing.

“We are going through the selection of the third party expert with Government represented by the Guyana Revenue Authority. That process is ongoing, and we expect to have one selected soon,” he told reporters.

However, there appears to be no established timeline for the selection of the Sole Expert.

An audit, conducted by IHS Markit, had found that of the US$1.67 Billion in claims made by ExxonMobil for operational expenses in the Stabroek Block for the period 1999-2017, some US$214M was questionable.

The Sole Expert is expected determine whether the US$214 million in questionable expenses as flagged by IHS Markit were legitimate.

Both sides are expected to propose candidates for the position. However, while those proposals have been made, no agreement has been reached. Routledge said it is important for the Sole Expert to have the confidence of both sides. 

“The discussions that have been had in the right approach – both sides wanting to make sure that they understand the credential of the people and the organizations being proposed and also that they don’t have any conflict of interest. That’s extremely important, I think, to both parties that we are comfortable ultimately with whomever it is that is the sole expert,” he said.

However, if Exxon and GRA fail to select a Sole Expert, one could be appointed by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC).

“The next step isn’t arbitration. We would agree to go to the ICC and they would appoint a sole expert – that is the next step. So, if we can’t agree then we have a third party identify that sole expert, and then we move forward with that sole expert,” the ExxonMobil Guyana President explained.

ExxonMobil has long maintained that it intends to recover the entire US$1.678 billion in costs for exploration work done between 1999 and 2017.

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