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Despite higher production… Guyana recorded lower oil revenues in 2025 as price declines
(Kaieteur News) – In 2025, Guyana’s total oil exports grew by an estimated 15.8% yet the country recorded lower earnings from the sector, due to a significant decline in oil prices.
This was highlighted by the Finance Minister, Dr. Ashni Singh during the presentation of Budget 2026 at the Arthur Chung Conference Center, Liliendaal, Greater Georgetown.
He said, “Oil prices declined in 2025, with crude oil prices averaging US$69 per barrel, 14.5% below the 2024 average, largely reflecting strong supply growth, which outpaced softer demand and contributed to rising inventories.”
In the 2025 Budget, government estimated that oil prices averaged US$80.7 per barrel in 2024, a 2.3% contraction from the previous year.
As a result of the decline in oil price last year, Guyana’s Natural Resource Fund (NRF) or the oil account saw a reduction in revenue flow, although the country’s production capacity increased. According to the 2026 Budget, Guyana received a total of US$2.4B last year. The country in 2025 recorded 260M barrels of oil.
Meanwhile, in 2024, Guyana produced an average 225.4 million barrels of crude oil and earned US$2.6B according to Budget 2025.
Guyana currently has four Floating Production Storage and Offloading vessels (FPSOs) operating in the Stabroek Block. According to information presented by the government, Liza Destiny produced an average of approximately 134,300 bpd, the Liza Unity FPSO at 249,500 bpd, the Prosperity FPSO at a rate of 255,200 bpd, and the One Guyana FPSO at just under 191,000 bpd.
Under the 2016 Production Sharing Agreement (PSA), Guyana receives 12.5% of profits. ExxonMobil is allowed to take 75% of the oil produced every month to cover its expenses and also enjoys a 12.5% profit share. In addition to its 12.5% profits, Guyana also receives 2% of gross production as royalty.
Government was previously warned to ring-fence the projects in the Stabroek Block to ensure the country enjoys early benefits from the sector, especially as oil prices were expected to decline in light of the global transition to cleaner energy sources. While more countries have been increasing their use of renewable energy, other developments, have resulted in an oversupply of the commodity.
Notably, the recent move by United States President Donald Trump to abduct the President of Venezuela and takeover the country’s oil resources is likely to have further impacts on the price of oil. In fact, Trump has already signaled his intent to use Venezuelan oil to lower the price per barrel to US$50.
Recently, the former Finance Minister, Winston Jordan cited full support for ring-fencing, a provision he said he supported from the beginning.
“I support ring fencing then and now. Were we in a better negotiating position then, I’m sure we would have insisted on it or some variant of it,” he told Kaieteur News.
During the Coalition’s tenure in office between 2015 and 2020, the government negotiated and signed a Petroleum Agreement with American oil major, ExxonMobil.
Acknowledging a major flaw in the contract, he said that the lack of ring-fencing exposes Guyana to severe financial risks, protecting instead the company’s profits.
He told this newspaper, “No ring-fencing has effectively transferred all the risks of investment decisions to, and the actual search for, new oil fields from Exxon to the Government of Guyana while Exxon maintains a high premium on such investments.”
With more and more developments being approved in the absence of a ring-fencing provision, the country has been receiving meager profits, delayed to facilitate cost recovery. Ring-fencing would ensure the country receive half of the profit from a project after its development costs are recovered.
The government of Guyana however made it clear on several occasions that it does not intend to implement this provision in the Stabroek Block. It said it would receive “massive” revenue in the future after the country pays off Exxon for its investments.
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THE BLUNT OF THE DAY
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Sir. Ronald Sanders
The GHK Lall Column
Weekend Cartoon
ExxonMobil: Something is Very Fishy, about These 255K +249K+134K+ 199K bpd of Crude Oul, and you Get To Take 75%, and we’re left. With A Tiny Margin, and
From my Perspective, THAT APPEARS TO BE: GRAND LARCENY, and IT IS VERY UNACCEPTABLE/WRONG!
You Need To Do Honest Business, with 🇬🇾, and Show you’re NOT Ripping Us Off! Thank you!