Attendees stand near Exxon Mobil Corp. signage during the World Gas Conference in Washington, D.C., U.S, on June 26, 2018. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg

The World Bank, which has pledged not to fund fossil fuel extraction, has agreed to pay nearly $2 million to Hunton Andrews Kurth to revise Guyana's petroleum law. The catch: Hunton has represented Exxon Mobil Corp. for decades, and Exxon Mobil is leading the pack in oil production in Guyana.

At least one German environmental rights group, Urgewald, is objecting to the funding for Hunton both as environmentally unsound and as a conflict of interest.

Heike Mainhardt, a Washington, D.C.-based senior adviser for Urgewald, told Corporate Counsel Wednesday, "I am completely at a loss as to how the World Bank cannot see this as a conflict of interest. When I look at the World Bank's procurement regulations, it seems to violate their own definition of a conflict."

The regulations, she said, prohibit the hiring of a consultant whose past or current engagements might conflict with the interest of the client, in this case, Guyana.

Exxon Mobil general counsel Randall Ebner did not return a message Wednesday seeking comment. However, when asked if Exxon Mobil's in-house lawyers referred Hunton to Guyana officials, Todd Spitler, Exxon Mobil's operations media manager, said, "Exxon Mobil is committed to the highest standards of business conduct. Any reports speculating or alleging the appearance of anything improper are baseless and without merit."

Spitler confirmed that Hunton has represented the company for almost 40 years. Records show it has often lobbied for Exxon Mobil before Congress and federal agencies.

"As a matter of practice, we do not comment on third-party transactions or discussions," Spitler added. He referred other questions to the law firm and the government of Guyana, which is located on the northeast coast of South America, next to Venezuela.

Tammy Brennig, managing partner of Hunton's Houston office, did not return messages. Exxon Mobil is based in Irving, Texas.

Guyana government officials also did not return messages Wednesday. However, the country was in turmoil over a hotly contested presidential election in which results were delayed due to allegations of voter fraud. Both main parties have declared victory.

Part of the election's controversy involved how Guyana, with a population under 800,000, will handle its oil boom as a consortium of companies, including Exxon Mobil, has just begun to tap into an estimated 8 billion barrels of oil and gas off its Atlantic coast.

The office of the World Bank's vice president of integrity—its independent top legal and compliance officer—did not return a message seeking comment. That office also is in transition. After the recent departure of integrity vice president Pascale DuBois, the bank has named Ethiopis Tafara as acting vice president. Tafara serves as the chief risk and legal officer for a World Bank investment unit.

A World Bank representative told Corporate Counsel that the bank, through its Guyana Petroleum Resources Governance and Management Project, has spent millions of dollars financing technical assistance and other support for the government of Guyana. The money "will support the country to develop better legal and institutional frameworks and will also boost the capacity of key institutions to manage the country's oil and gas sector," the representative said.

He explained that the selection of Hunton on this project was conducted by the government, and the contract signing was between the government and the law firm in accordance with World Bank regulations.

He added, "These regulations require that firms or individuals involved in [procurements] shall not have a conflict of interest." In other words, the World Bank does not see Guyana's hiring of Hunton as a conflict of interest.

Legal studies and business ethics professor Philip Nichols disagreed, calling the conflict "obvious." Nichols leads the corporate governance and accountability program in the Zicklin Center for Business Ethics Research at the University of Pennsylvania,

Nichols told Corporate Counsel Wednesday, "My guess is the law firm is saying we are putting up a Chinese law, where people working on this [Guyana law] have nothing do with that [Exxon Mobil]. That's a convenient and rarely effective means of preventing a conflict of interest. The bottom line is that this law firm's revenue is probably far more dependent on the oil company than on the poor country that is writing laws to manage extraction of oil."

Nichols added, "It's unfortunate. Guyana has lovely people who don't deserve to be No. 2 on their lawyer's list of priorities."