Latest update May 8th, 2026 12:30 AM
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Liza 1 & 2
(Kaieteur News) – Guyana’s first two oil projects could be out of oil before Guyanese know it. Considering that recent figures indicate daily oil production has accelerated to 900,000 barrels, the reserves in Liza One and Liza Two could be drained out by the end of this decade. It informs about why ExxonMobil is rushing a steady stream of new oil projects to keep its earnings out of Guyana flowing. Liza One and Two have a limited field life left, and it is good business, planning for the future, to have their replacements lined up and ready to go. In the PPPC Government, ExxonMobil could not have asked for a better partner, one that is passive and willing to greenlight whatever is pushed in front of it to sign.
After over six years of oil production that netted US$39.5B, Guyana’s share amounted to US$5.9B. ExxonMobil took its 75% of cost recovery right from the top of oil revenues, leaving Guyana to split with it what was left. In a secretive, uncertain oil environment, as fostered by a government that hoards need-to-know information, leaving the nation in the dark, even that supposed 50-50 split, after 75% cost recovery, suffers from a lack of credibility, with few Guyanese relying on what both ExxonMobil and the PPPC Government share with the nation. What is clear is that Guyana has paid back, wiped off, its obligations to the ExxonMobil-led consortium, for its investment in Liza One and Liza Two and two more. However, Guyana is still not enjoying its full and proper share of profits from those four projects that are now free of their original debt. Why that is so, is what neither ExxonMobil nor the Guyana Government have been interested in addressing, or when so that a clean and credible representation has been made.
Meanwhile, Liza One and Two are pumping oil at faster and faster rates daily. The downside of that is the reserves of both projects have dropped sharply, and both could be out of action in a few years. To the end of April, Liza One’s production totaled 277.46M barrels out of 452M in reserves. In six years, 61% of Liza One’s reserve has taken out from under the seabed, with approximately 174, 540M barrels left. Given the average annual rate of production, Liza One has another four years of production left. This is revealing for an oil project that had an estimated production life of 20 years, but is now seemingly halved. Increased production, increased oil revenues, faster depletion of reserves, and Guyana still counting pennies for its share in what is sold to citizens as straight dealing.
The situation with Liza Two is almost a mirror of what has occurred at Liza One. Total production from Liza Two stood at 286.95M barrels at the end of Aril 2026. This means that slightly over half of Liza Two’s reserves of 570M barrels has been produced and shipped out. It stares at the same fate as Liza One, with its last barrels of reserve set to runout shortly after Liza One is out of oil. Government has said that there will be a slower rate of production implemented, to facilitate the production lifespan of the two projects extend to their full 20-year estimate. Whoever believes that, also believes that the cow jumped over the moon. Wasn’t it the PPPC itself that once promised to upturn the 2016 oil contract and replace it with one more favorable to Guyana? It was, and Guyana’s profit share is all the evidence needed of how the PPPC Government deceived citizens, tricked them into trusting its leaders.
Projects paid off, lack of ringfencing, and no moves by the government to change what hemorrhages Guyana from getting fairness for its oil, Now Guyana’s country’s oil money is not used to pay-off investment debt. But financing new projects that ExxonMobil dreams up to keep its record profits rolling, while keeping Guyana trapped helplessly.
Two projects milked of their reserves, stunted national leaders, and an oil company that wrote the book on oil is the perfect formula. Except the oil book left out how countries like Guyana are disadvantaged. A customized disaster, with Guyana’s Liza One and Two as proof.
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