One of the issues the forensic audit currently being completed by Kroll Consulting Canada Co (Kroll) will seek to answer is why A&V Oil and Gas’ daily oil production fell by 65 per cent in a matter of two months.
A&V’s daily oil production fell from around 5,000 barrels of oil a day in June to just over 1,700 two months later, in August, according to the Monthly Production and Price Data in the Energy Sector report dated October 31, which was submitted to the Cabinet and reported in Thursday’s Business & Money magazine.
The sharp decline occurred without any significant increase in the number of rig days recorded.
The Sunday Guardian sought to get A&V’s owner Haniff Nazim Baksh to explain the drastic decline in his company’s oil production figures, but he did not respond to calls and text messages.
The significant drop in A&V’s oil production figures coincides with an internal audit report into Petrotrin dated August 17, which stated that because of a lack of due diligence Petrotrin’s oil production figures had been inflated.
Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar raised the issue in September labelling it a “fake oil” fiasco. A&V Oil and Gas is the main contributor of Petrotrin’s Incremental Production Service Contracts (IPSC).
n For 2016 the IPSC’s average oil production was 1,808 barrels of oil a day. Around 2015 the IPSC’s average oil production was 1,894 barrels daily.
n The average number of barrels of oil produced daily for the first six months of this year, however, is 3,826 which is more than twice the average of the previous two years.
The highest oil production for last year occurred in December 2016 when 2,411 barrels of oil were produced daily by the IPSC. Six months later, in June 2017, the IPSC was producing more than twice that amount.
n In June this year, the IPSC produced 5,664 barrels of oil a day.
n According to the most recent Monthly Production and Price Data in the Energy Sector report the IPSC produced 2,174 barrels of oil a day in August.
n A&V Oil and Gas Ltd contributed 1,744 barrels while Leni Gas and Oil Ltd and others accounted for 430.
There was not much difference in the number of rig days recorded for June and August.
In June, the IPSC recorded 28 rig days. In August, the IPSC recorded 24 rig days.
The Sunday Guardian reached out to Petrotrin’s corporate communications department for a response to the situation.
Kroll forensic investigation on audit to be delivered in November—Petrotrin
According to a release from Petrotrin which was sent to the media on Tuesday, the Kroll forensic investigation into the August 2017 internal audit report, which was carded to be delivered in October, will now be submitted with the next two weeks.
Kroll’s report will be submitted directly to Petrotrin Board’s Audit Committee when it is completed.
The Canadian company has so far completed all of the on-site work and are now engaged in the final stages of electronic data analysis.
Among the issues the Kroll report will include is the “identification of any relevant parties/entities from the standpoints of accountability and culpability and the identification of any systemic inadequacies or shortcomings which may have contributed to the findings”.
“Petrotrin’s Board is committed to ensuring transparency and good governance in all aspects of the company’s operations and anxiously awaits the submission of the report,” the release stated.