In a league of its own

Nov 05, 2025 Editorial, News

(Kaieteur News) – ExxonMobil is operating in the stratosphere, keeps heading higher. The source of the US oil giant’s success is due, in significant part, to the contributions from Guyana’s oil. Guyana’s increasing daily oil production is a rich, reliable backstop when other assets of the company experience difficulties. ExxonMobil’s CEO, Darren Woods, was proud to inform the world of the exceptional state that his company is at, and how much of a factor, a contributor, that Guyana’s oil production is.

“We are in a league of our own”, said CEO Woods. There is no disputing that fact where ExxonMobil is concerned. How many head honchos of large corporations can speak with such conviction, while not guilty of any exaggeration? Woods can, and most of his competitors may dream of doing so, but dare not say so. Meanwhile, there is that contradiction, a blot on the company’s success, that is never addressed directly and truly by either ExxonMobil or the Government of Guyana. How is it that in a half and half partnership, that one partner (ExxonMobil, the operator) is on a runaway earnings trajectory, while the host oil producing partner (Guyana) is lagging far behind in its combined share of royalty and profits? Given that 75% cost recovery for ExxonMobil comes straight off the top of revenues, Guyana first gets squeezed right there. Also, there are questions and more questions about how much of those US billions in expenses submitted by ExxonMobil are legitimate.

How much a team of skilled and hardworking auditors could uncover, if it was committed to a genuine examination of Guyana’s oil partner’s expenses? Another hard blow, probably a low one, has to be absorbed by Guyana, for its oil that is being produced at higher and higher daily volumes. The more profits that ExxonMobil reports, the more that Guyana is left to deal with a mysterious reality. Though ExxonMobil rakes in its billions in profits, Guyana is standing still, or barely inching forward, considering the paltry deposits from the company into its New York-based Natural Resource Fund. Many billions have been spent on exploration, where ExxonMobil holds all the cards, can swamp Guyana with costs, and this country being none the wiser, as to how credible they are. Moreover, much has been said about how much expenses will start to diminish, with Guyana’s collections from its oil rising. Guyanese are waiting and questioning: will they be better off, or will they be tricked again? The days of more are still to come, even though there is the watchfulness that new ways of pulling the wool over Guyana’s eyes could be in the making.

It is constructive to look at where Guyana stands today, how much its oil is delivering to ExxonMobil’s out-of-this world bottom line. Daily production is currently at 700,000 barrels per day (bpd), with 900,000 bpd is on the horizon and drawing closer, and the Uaru and Whiptail projects set to join the First Oil production line in 2026 and 2027 respectively. In a matter of two months, 2026 will be here, and Uaru contributing to more barrels of oil produced by Guyana daily is poised to follow. It is why Woods can speak with such authority, confidence. The challenge of lower levels of oil from its Tengiz field is eased by more oil from Guyana doing its part. In the midst of this thrilling story of ExxonMobil being “in a league of its own” there is a wicked irony.

Given its 700,000 bpd, Guyana’s oil represents 14.5% of Exxon total third quarter production of 4.8M bpd. Incredibly, Guyana is still hunting down borrowers for more US billion-dollar loans. Guyana’s daily production is now more crucial to ExxonMobil’s plans and profits, given that one of the largest oilfields in the world, the company’s Tengiz field in Kazakhstan, is producing less. CEO Darren Woods himself pointed to this state in his customary corporate language. “Lower earnings from weaker crude realizations and higher depreciation from Tengiz were largely offset by advantaged volume growth in the Permian and Guyana.” But there is Guyana swapping its patrimony for more loans.

ExxonMobil is, indeed, “in a league of its own”. Meanwhile, almost half of Guyana lives in the poverty league.

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Darren Woods, Editorial, ExxonMobil, oil production

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In a league of its own

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