Audit Office preparing for oil and gas sector

As the country’s newfound petroleum industry develops, the Audit Office of Guyana is in preparation mode to ensure it has the capacity and knowledge to examine the multidimensional sector.

Auditor General Deodat Sharma disclosed that assistance is being provided by the Canadian Executive Service Organisation (CESO) through which officers are being trained to understand the industry.

“More specifically, we’ll be looking at the various areas in the oil and gas sector that may be relevant to our engagement when it comes to examining the revenue and expenditure of the sector,” Sharma said as he delivered brief remarks shortly before handing over the 2017 Auditor General Report Friday to Dr Barton Scotland, Speaker of the National Assembly.

Sharma explained that audits will be financial, regulatory, technical and even scientific.

As a part of the assistance provided by CESO, the audit office will also be building capacity for environmental audits, which will look at the potential oil spills.

The audit office is also building its capacity to conduct audits of institutions which offer Technical and Vocational Education Training.

The aim is to assess the effectiveness of these institutions in providing necessary training for persons to benefit from oil and gas.

Sharma says two officers from the audit office will be heading to Canada to be trained in various aspects of oil and gas audit.

Among the things the office is interested in auditing is the US$18 million signing bonus the government received from oil giant ExxonMobil.