Exxon, Hess helping Guyana to manage oil resources

Jan 07, 2022 News

By Kiana Wilburg

Kaieteur News – Hess Corporation’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), John Hess revealed on Thursday that his company and Exxon Mobil Corporation are supporting independent work being done by an international group to help Guyana devise a developmental plan for the management of its oil wealth.

Professor Michael Porter of the Harvard Business School

During a recent discussion at Goldman Sachs’ Global Energy and Clean Technology Conference-2022, the Hess Boss said the support is being provided to Michael Porter of the Harvard Business School who is part of a team in Georgetown for a project called, the Guyana Development Initiative. Kaieteur News understands that Porter is an American academic known for his theories on economics, business strategy, and social causes. Furthermore, Porter is the Bishop William Lawrence University Professor at Harvard Business School, and he was one of the founders of the consulting firm The Monitor Group (now part of Deloitte) and FSG, a social impact consultancy. He is also credited for creating Porter’s five forces analysis, which is instrumental in business strategy development today.
Expounding further, Hess said the development plan will help Guyana enhance its human capital through healthcare and education and its infrastructure. Already, Hess disclosed that it is partnering with Exxon, also to provide support to help Guyana build an electric plant using natural gas that has been discovered in the Stabroek Block. “(We will) also look at building their national capital to manage this oil wealth and hopefully, five to 10 years from now, we will be looking at Guyana as a role model for how to develop resources responsibility,” expressed the Hess Boss.

Hess Corporation’s CEO, John Hess

He added: “We as a company believe in social responsibility and want to do our fair share to contribute to that exemplary development that hopefully the government will continue to conduct. So social responsibility is very important to us and we want to make a positive impact on the communities where we work and Guyana is going to be at the top of that list.”
In the meantime, the Hess Boss said that the Stabroek Block partners remain focused on fully understanding the exploration potential of the offshore resources in the Guyana basin, which he described as having industry leading production costs and world-class reservoirs. He alluded too that the latest discoveries, being Fangtooth-1 and Lau Lau-1 wells in the Stabroek block are a testimony to the treasure the partners hold in the South American nation. Hess said the discoveries are significant and will add to the estimated 10 billion barrels of recoverable oil equivalent resources in the block.