Oil minister says tax-free ride to Exxon can’t change

May 23, 2025 News

…but accepts that it’s criminal to have an agreement with zero tax

Kaieteur News- Minister of Natural Resources, Vickram Bharrat, while addressing the National Toshaos Council (NTC) conference on Wednesday, accepted that it is “criminal” to give ExxonMobil a tax-free ride for its operations in Guyana’s lucrative Stabroek (oil) Block.

However, according to the oil minister, the deal cannot be changed, but Guyanese can look forward to better fiscal terms in new oil agreements for other blocks. During his presentation at the conference presently being held at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre, Lilieendaal, Georgetown, Bharrat noted that many Guyanese would ask him why his government is not changing the bad deal that it had criticised in the past.

Oil minister says tax-free ride to Exxon can’t change

Guyana’s Oil Minister, Vickram Bharrat, addressing Toshaos at the ACCC on Wednesday

“I have been to a lot of communities and people say, why we don’t change it…so I will explain why we don’t change it”, Bharrat told the Indigenous leaders attending the conference. In making his case why the government cannot change the oil contract that has shortchanged Guyana, Bharrat said, “You have to understand the term renegotiation means, that the two-party got to come to the table and agree on new terms and conditions is not the government saying, oh we want this we want that.” He then shifted all the blame on the previous coalition administration that signed it back in June 2016.

He then went on to repeat that his PPP/C government had only promised to change future oil deals and not the Stabroek deal- a claim that is still being questioned today because there is a recorded video suggesting that changing the deal was one of the party’s campaign promises when in opposition. General Secretary of the Party and the country’s Vice-president was recorded criticising the then government for selling out Guyana’s patrimony before promising that “we will look back at the deal”.

Bharrat, however, in his address on Wednesday, said that the promise was to only change future oil deals. “So, when we took over government (in 2020), we said that we are going to change the fiscal regime or the benefits that come to a country in future agreements that we sign, because in Guyana waters, it is not only the Stabroek block, there are many other blocks. The Stabroek block is just one block”, Bharrat claimed.

“There is the Kaieteur, there is the Canje, there is the Orinduik, Kanuku, Roraima, Berbice, Demerara and many other blocks, but only because we are producing from the Stabroek block that one is highlighted all the time, there are many other blocks,” Bharrat continued. The oil minister then went on to point out the differences between the fiscal terms of the lopsided Stabroek Block contract with the ones the government has included in its new agreements that it plans to sign for other oil blocks.

“And what are differences in the old agreement. It has two percent royalty that come to Guyana that is what the APNU+AFC signed,” Bharrat said before adding, “The one that we will sign with new operators, it says ten percent of royalty must come to Guyana, an increase of 8 percent, so additional benefits for us.”

Criminal contract

Bharrat then described the tax-free ride granted to ExxonMobil in the Stabroek Block Contract as “criminal”. “…And in the old agreement and you got to listen to this because this is almost criminal that the APNU+AFC sat down with these oil companies and put in that agreement zer0 percent tax…imagine that”, Guyana’s oil minister told the Toshaos. “In the new agreement, we say oil companies must pay 10 percent tax. It’s criminal to do an agreement and put zero percent tax,” Bharrat added. He said that if Guyana wanted a better oil deal, then it should have ensured it got one when the coalition signed the contract in 2016. “And yet the same people, they even come in the Parliament and say yall got to change it, why didn’t you negotiate at that point in time and ensure you had a proper agreement, that is what they should have done,” he argued. It should be noted that the government has managed to make some minor changes to the current Stabroek Block deal like taking control of Guyana’s decommissioning fund- a fund that was held by ExxonMobil- but is refusing to engage the American oil giant on ringfencing and taxes.

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Canje, Kaieteur, Minister of Natural Resources, Vickram Bharrat, zero tax

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