Oil price high, but is who really winning?

Mar 13, 2026 Dem Boys Seh, Features / Columnists

(Kaieteur News) – Dem boys seh when oil price start climb past US$100 a barrel because of war in the Middle East, some people in Guyana start rubbing dem hands like if Christmas come early. Dem watching the news and calculating how much extra money the country going make. One man even seh if oil reach US$200 a barrel like Iran predicting, Guyana going be richer than a coconut vendor in dry season.

But dem boys seh hold on a minute. Before we start planning how to spend money that ain’t reach yet, somebody should take out a calculator and do some honest maths.

Because the truth is, for every barrel of oil coming out of we ocean, Guyana only getting about 14.5 percent. The rest going to the oil companies. So when the price shoot up, yes we get a lil extra — but the big gravy bowl still sitting somewhere else.

Is like if you own a mango tree but somebody else picking most of the mangoes and only throwing a few down to you. When mango price go up in the market, you smiling — but the man with the big basket smiling much bigger.

And dem boys seh people forgetting another thing too. Guyana might be pumping oil, but we still importing fuel like we ain’t see oil in we life yet.

Why? Because the government never push ahead with building that small modular refinery dem been talking about.

So when oil price jump on the world market, guess what else jumping? Petrol price at the pumps. Diesel price. Electricity cost. Everything.

That same extra oil money people celebrating might have to be used to subsidize fuel and keep electricity prices from flying through the roof.

Dem boys seh that is like a man getting a raise at work and the same day the landlord double the rent. By the time you finish celebrating, the extra money already gone.

One old man at the rum shop put it best. He seh, “Guyana producing oil but we still buying fuel like tenants in we own house.”

Dem boys seh high oil price might sound sweet on the evening news, but for small countries like Guyana, it ain’t always the jackpot people think.

Sometimes when oil price rise, the only thing rising faster is the bill you got to pay.

Talk half. Leff half

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Dem Boys Seh, oil, oil barrel, Oil price high, Petrol price

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