Chevron shareholder faces questions on lopsided oil contract, lack of full liability coverage in Guyana

Apr 27, 2026 News

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(Kaieteur News) – The Oil and Gas Governance Network (OGGN), a US based non-profit organization raised serious questions with Berkshire Hathaway Inc, a major shareholder of Chevron- which now owns Hess Corporation- raising questions about the lopsided Stabroek Block Petroleum Agreement.

Berkshire Hathaway owns major companies like GEICO and Dairy Queen with large stakes in Apple and Coca-Cola among others. The company owns over one million shares in Chevron, representing about just over 6% of the oil company’s stock. Chevron recently bought over Hess which holds 30% shares in Guyana’s oil-rich Stabroek acreage.

According to its Berkshire Hathaway’s Code of Business Conduct and Ethics ‘obeying the law, both in letter and in spirit, is the foundation upon which the Company’s ethical standards are built.’

In a letter dated April 18, 2026 and addressed to Greg Abel, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Fortune 500 American company representatives of OGGN weighed into Berkshire for expressing deep pride in its tax contributions which amounted to a staggering US$26.8B paid to the United States.

The Guyanese activists explained, “There appears to be a stark ideological clash when evaluating Chevron, which constitutes a massive pillar of Berkshire’s equity portfolio. Following Chevron’s 2025 acquisition of Hess, it inherited a highly lucrative 30% working interest in the Stabroek Block in Guyana.”

To this end, they pointed out that under Article 15.4 of the 2016 Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) governing the Stabroek Block, the oil consortium does not pay out-of-pocket corporate income taxes to the Guyanese government. Instead, Guyana is contractually obligated to settle these tax liabilities on the companies’ behalf using the state’s own share of profit oil.

In underlining the absurdity of this provision, OGGN stated that the consortium was required to pay total income taxes amounting to US$5.23B between 2020 and 2024 while Guyana’s total earnings amounted to only US$6.27B during the same period.

OGGN said, “Rather than the consortium paying this massive sum out of its own profits, the developing nation absorbed the entire US$5.23 billion tax bill on their behalf—a staggering reality when compared to the country’s total take-home revenue for that exact same five-year period.”

It added that the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) would then issue an official tax certificate which can then be used to claim Foreign Tax Credits (FTCs). To this end, the activists reasoned that while Chevron may be following the “letter” of its foreign contracts, this massive wealth transfer arguably violates the “spirit” of the ethical standards and fair corporate citizenship championed in Omaha.

“How would this zero-out-of-pocket tax arrangement read on the front page of the local paper? Beyond these staggering tax disparities, this ideological clash extends to the realm of environmental liability,” the non-profit organization continued.

The Network reminded that Berkshire’s Audit Committee Charter explicitly requires the discussion of policies governing the company’s exposure to risk, including environmental and social risks. “Yet, the consortium operates in Guyana through a limited liability subsidiary, ExxonMobil Guyana Limited (EMGL), heavily shielding the parent companies (including Chevron) massive assets. Rather than doing what is right, moral, and obligatory to the rule of law in honoring its legal imperative to provide a parent company guarantee covering all costs for cleanup in case of a major oil spill, the consortium uncaringly reneged on this legal requirement with change in Guyana’s Government in 2020, and has aggressively negotiated to cap its guarantee at a mere US$2 billion. To put this in perspective, the Macondo spill in the Gulf of Mexico costed upwards of US$145 billion,” OGGN flagged.

The letter goes on to explain that the ExxonMobil-led consortium not only appealed a local ruling for full liability coverage in the event of an oil spill but it “illegally” violates the Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) and standard international practices by exceeding safe production limits, flaring of tens of millions of standard cubic feet of toxic produced gas daily and dumping “billions of barrels of toxic and radioactive produced water” overboard.

OGGN was keen to note that while it welcomes development, including oil production, it believes these activities must be carried out in a responsible, safe and environmentally sound manner.

Given the issues flagged above, the group said that Guyana, the Caribbean and Latin American is faced with the potential to suffer financial bankruptcy and environmental catastrophe resulting from a major oil spill, while Chevron and its partners profit off of the plight of these countries.

Consequently, the Network explained, “This creates a profound paradox. While the parent holding company in Omaha proudly writes record-breaking checks to the IRS and embraces its financial obligations, a significant driver of Berkshire’s portfolio value is actively benefiting from multi-billion dollar, zero-out-of-pocket tax arrangements and legally shielded environmental liabilities financed almost entirely by a developing nation.”

Given Berkshire’s longstanding commitment to intellectual honesty, OGGN asked how does the management team internally reconcile this philosophical disconnect? The body further queried, “Is there a threshold where the aggressive optimization strategies of portfolio companies begin to conflict with the core values championed in Omaha?”

About OGGN:

OGGN was founded in 2017 and is composed of Guyanese at home and abroad. It is registered as 501 (c) (3) non-profit in New York. The group’s mission is to advocate for the rule of law, environmental protection, and strict financial norms when it comes to oil exploration and production in Guyana.

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• Berkshire Hathaway, Chevron, lopsided oil contract, OGGN, oil spill, taxes

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