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Jagdeo denies any relationship with Fulcrum owners
Dr. Bharat Jagdeo, Vice-President
– Said he had only met the former vice president of ExxonMobil once
Kaieteur News – Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo on Thursday said he had no relationship with the one-year-old company to which his government awarded the contract to monetize Guyana’s natural gas, saying he had only met the man once although he served as vice president of ExxonMobil Guyana for many years.
Fulcrum LNG CEO Jesus Bronchalo worked for ExxonMobil for 19 years and has worked in Guyana for several years. There are concerns about a possible conflict of interest, with the opposition even suggesting that senior government officials may have links to the deal.
Kaieteur News asked Jagdeo on Thursday: “How would you describe your relationship with the Fulcrum CEO? In your interactions, did you ever discuss gas monetization?” Jagdeo responded: “I met this gentleman once when they were doing a presentation on the gas energy project and the interaction was heated because we were discussing gas pricing policy, that was the only time I met him and he came as part of a working group… I never met him again, I met him again later after the contract was awarded and never again in between. So it was clear that I should not have been involved.”
The newspaper reported on Wednesday that People’s National Congress for Reform (PNC/R) chairman Shurwayne Holder has called for an investigation into what he described as suspicious gas monetization deals. The Shadow Natural Resources Minister told the newspaper on Tuesday that the award of the contract to Fulcrum LNG had set off alarm bells. He explained: “While I am fully aware of the company’s (CEO’s) experience in the oil and gas sector, we have to consider that the company he leads is only a year old and has no track record of undertaking such projects. I think this is a corporate operation, not a one-man show.”
Moreover, Holder insisted that the conflict of interest between the company’s CEO and ExxonMobil could not be ignored.
The Opposition MP said, “I don’t care what Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo said about ExxonMobil not supporting gas monetisation. You can’t trust anything he says, he often says the wrong thing so we can’t just trust Jagdeo in defending this company.” The Shadow Natural Resources Minister further stressed that the BJP’s track record is littered with companies that lacked the capacity to undertake work and failed to meet the terms of contracts, yet these companies were defended by the government.
Holder also noted that “the public has also learned about allegations of corruption in the oil and gas industry based on the video of the discussion between Vice President Jagdeo and So Chee Young released by Vice News.”
Jagdeo’s Throwing Support
However, Jagdeo has backed the one-year-old company despite questions being raised about its inexperience and lack of any known completed projects to monetize gas resources. He told reporters at a previous press conference that the Government of Guyana (GoG) was aware of the company’s links with US oil giant ExxonMobil and had no qualms about it because Fulcrum LNG’s founder had severed ties with ExxonMobil. Research by the publication found that Fulcrum LNG’s founder is Bronchalo, who worked at ExxonMobil for 19 years and one month. His last position with the company was as Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer for Guyana operations. His tenure will end in February 2023.
Five months later, in July 2023, Bronchalo reportedly founded energy company Fulcrum LNG, which “has experience and expertise in all aspects of the oil and gas value chain, including low-carbon solutions”. The Guyana government then issued a request for proposals (RFP) in January 2024, seeking private sector participation in the design, financing, construction and operation of natural gas infrastructure to support Guyana’s current and future upstream development.
Proposals began to be accepted in February this year and by June, President Irfaan Ali announced the contract The Fulcrum LNG contract was awarded to Bronchalo, who is also the secretary, treasurer, director and president of the company contracted by the Government of Guyana (GoG), according to company records seen by this publication. By all indications, he employs only one employee.
Kaieteur News Discovery Ivor Ellul has been hired as Technical Director of Fulcrum LNG. Appointed in July 2023, he previously worked for companies including Schlumberger GeoQuest and CiSK Ventures, Ltd. Ellul has held senior positions during his career, including Managing Director, Chairman, CEO and President.
The company’s limited experience raises serious questions about its ability to meet its contractual obligations.Bronchalo’s company was selected as the “most responsive and compliant bidder” out of 16 companies bidding to develop non-associated gas from the ExxonMobil-operated Stabroek Block.
A deeper dive into the company’s record also led to Kaieteur News to the business address of Fulcrum LNG. The energy company’s business premises appear to be a two-story guest house located at 937 TAHOE Boulevard in Incline Village, Nevada, USA. According to company records, Fulcrum LNG’s business premises are Suite 130B. The CEO’s relationship with US oil giant ExxonMobil has raised concerns among Guyanese, but the government has ruled out the possibility of a conflict of interest.
Jagdeo said the evaluators were well aware that Bronchallo had been with Exxon for 19 years. The vice president even joked that this might have given his company a head start over the other bidders. “He left Exxon, but if anything, the evaluators probably thought he had the data on the gas. I don’t know if they did, so he should have known because Exxon didn’t want to go in that direction or monetize the gas in that direction early on, and they said they needed to reinject the gas. We had a different view.”
He added: “On the face of it, I think it was the best proposal that the evaluators came up with and it’s what we wanted and therefore, I found nothing wrong with the evaluation of the bid and I didn’t find anything materially wrong, other than the fact that he had worked for ExxonMobil.” Asked to comment on the fact that Fulcrum LNG had no known experience and had only been registered for a year, the vice president went on to defend the award of the contract, insisting that the founder had many years of experience in the field through his previous work at ExxonMobil. “But he worked for ExxonMobil for a long time, but he was also a project developer for a long time,” Jagdeo pointed out.
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