NGO behind U.S. senators enquiry into ExxonMobil tax filings

Last Updated on Friday, 26 September 2025, 23:09 by Writer

The New York-registered non-governmental organisation (NGO), Oil and Gas Governance Network (OGGN), was on Friday credited by prominent Guyanese Chartered Accountant Christopher Ram and the Alliance For Change (AFC) for convincing three United States (U.S.) senators for seeking answers from ExxonMobil’s about its tax practices in Guyana.

AFC Executive Member Dr Vincent Adams said OGGN’s Professor Kenrick Hunte and New York City high school teacher Mike Persaud met with Democrat Senator for Rhode Island, Sheldon Whitehouse in February 2025 who then engaged two colleague Democrat Senators Chris Van Hollen (Maryland), and Jeff Merkley (Oregon) about the apparent misuse of American taxpayers’ monies. “All of the information coming out from these three senators was information provided by the OGGN so they played a major part in the comments made by the senators and the issues raised by them,” he said.

“They’re questioning this scheme and the reason why they’ve gotten involved is… their concern is that the taxpayers are subsidising Exxon. Remember, now, they’re not paying any taxes but they’re claiming taxes for money that they did not pay,” Mr Adams, a former Head of Guyana’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), told a news conference.

Writing in the privately-owned independent Stabroek News newspaper, Mr Ram said OGGN, whose members and associates are mostly Guyanese here and overseas, was responsible for the U.S. senators seeking answers from ExxonMobil’s Chief Executive Officer, Darren Woods. “The USA development arose from proactive action on the part of OGGN, operating as an NGO in that country with the objective of getting a better deal for Guyana,” Mr Ram said.

Mr Ram interpreted the contents of the U.S. senators’ letter to Mr Woods that they think that ExxonMobil is using fake Guyanese tax certificates to allegedly rob American taxpayers of vast sums of tax dollars each year. They want to know if ExxonMobil actually paid any taxes in Guyana.

He said tax arrangement under Article 15.4 and 15.5 of the Agreement: 1. ExxonMobil prepares tax return → 2. Minister gets money from oil fund → 3. Minister pays ExxonMobil’s taxes to GRA → 4. GRA issues receipt in ExxonMobil’s name → 5. ExxonMobil uses certificate to claim a tax credit in the USA.

In practice, however, Mr Ram alleged that the substantive steps set out in 2, 3 and 4 above are not executed, raising grave doubts about the legality of the entire process, of which Exxon is a willing partner.

Writing on the OGGN website in August 2025, Dr Hunte, Mr Persaud et al said total taxes in 2023 were US$1, 469.4 million and Guyana’s share of profit oil was only US$1,447.7 million, yielding a deficit of US$21.7 million. Similarly, they said the total tax in 2024 was US$2,406.4 million and Guyana’s share of profit oil was US$2,249.2 million, yielding a deficit of US$157.2 million. Given that the sum of the deficits in 2023 and 2024 amounted to US$ 178.9 million, this implies that prior year profits and/or royalties had to be disbursed to cover these deficits, they added.

Current U.S. tax rules offer a loophole for big multinational oil companies drilling in a foreign country to shrink their tax bills. Closing this loophole would save American taxpayers an estimated $71.5 billion over ten years.

“We are concerned about the possibility that American taxpayers may be subsidizing ExxonMobil’s foreign oil production, which they do in partnership with a Chinese state-owned company,” wrote Whitehouse, Van Hollen, and Merkley.

“Payments to a foreign government in exchange for an economic benefit [such as the right to extract oil and gas] are not considered taxes at all and thus cannot qualify for a U.S. foreign tax credit. However special rules allow ‘dual capacity’ taxpayers to divide up such payments into creditable taxes and non-creditable payments. While it is not difficult to distinguish between taxes and payments for economic benefits, current rules allow contracts to be structured in a way that blurs the distinction. This loophole is a particular boon to big multinational oil companies,” added the senators.

Following are the seven questions to the ExxonMobil Chairman and Chief Executive Officer:

We would like to better understand whether U.S. tax dollars are subsidizing your partnership with China to drill for oil overseas. We ask that you answer the following questions about how the 2016 PA with the Government of Guyana has affected ExxonMobil’s U.S. federal tax liability by no later than October 23, 2025:

1. Based on Article 15.4 of the PA, did ExxonMobil provide income tax returns to the Government of Guyana, and for which years? Did ExxonMobil directly pay the Government of Guyana any income tax in 2024 and/or 2023, or did the Government of Guyana make such payments on ExxonMobil’s behalf out of the government’s share of profit oil? 
2. For any income tax payments to Guyana made by ExxonMobil or on its behalf, what portion, if any, did ExxonMobil claim as U.S. FTCs in 2024 and/or 2023?
3. Did ExxonMobil claim any U.S. FTCs on any payments to the Government of Guyana in 2024 and/or 2023?
4. If ExxonMobil claimed any U.S. FTCs in 2024 and/or 2023 on payments to the Government of Guyana, please explain what provisions of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code or regulations the company used to justify the claim and provide a model of how the calculation of creditable tax was made using illustrative numbers that are consistent with actual results.
5. If U.S. FTCs were claimed on any payments to the Government of Guyana, how much did they lower the company’s U.S. federal tax bill for 2024 and/or 2023?
6. Does the 2016 PA between ExxonMobil and Guyana make a distinction between taxes owed to the Government of Guyana and payments for economic benefits?
   a. If so, please provide the specific language and ExxonMobil’s interpretation of how it affects your U.S. federal tax liability under current rules.
7. What was ExxonMobil’s rationale for including CNOOC as a partner in its 2016 PA with the Government of Guyana?