Improving lives of Guyanese does not include renegotiation of Exxon contract – Pres. Ali

May 11, 2026 News

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…says move would be an ‘unimaginable legal hurdle’

Kaieteur News – President Irfaan Ali, when asked if his plans to continue improving the lives of Guyanese includes the renegotiation of the oil contract Guyana has with ExxonMobil, maintained that changes to the contract would not happen under his administration and said that such a move could result in a “legal hurdle of an unimaginable scale.”

The head-of-state made that comment during an exclusive interview last Monday with the Houston Chronicle during his trip to Houston, Texas for the Offshore Technology Conference (OTC).

“The sanctity of contract is important for us. We’ve made it very clear that we cannot renegotiate the contract. That, by itself, would be a legal hurdle of an unimaginable scale,” President Ali said in response to being asked, “When you’re talking about continuing to help the Guyanese people, do you have any plans to renegotiate a contract with Exxon?”

He added, “So what we have been doing is trying to manage the contract by optimising the administrative benefit that comes to that.”

The contract has long faced criticisms due to its lopsided nature-benefitting the oil companies more than Guyana. Since assuming office in August 2020, President Ali has repeatedly stated that his administration will stick to the terms of the 2016 Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) between Guyana and ExxonMobil Guyana Limited (EMGL) along with its partners, Hess Corporation and CNOOC for the lucrative Stabroek Block.

Despite calls for the deal to be changed, the Irfaan Ali led administration has repeatedly cited “sanctity of contract” as its reason to not push for any changes to the deal.

Governing the Stabroek Block is a deal that waives all taxes from the oil companies, stipulating that Guyana must cover these costs. It allows the companies to recover up to 75% of their investments before the remaining 25% is split. Of this, Guyana receives 12.5%, in addition to a 2% royalty paid by the oil companies.

While the deal will not be changed by this current government, the PSA provides that the heavily criticised agreement can in fact be renegotiated. The provision obtains at Article 13.2 of the PSA but comes with the caveat — the renegotiations can happen only with a signed written agreement between all of the parties involved. According to that provision in the PSA, commonly referred to as the contract, “This agreement shall not be amended or modified in respect except by written agreement entered into by all the parties which shall state the date upon which the amendment or modifications shall become effective.”

However, EMGL’s President Alistair Routledge has made it clear that Exxon is not open to renegotiating the oil contract.  He was reportedly asked about using the provision in the contract that caters for Guyana and the company to mutually agree to renegotiate the contract. He said, “We have no interest to invoke that article. As I say, we’ve made US$55 billion worth of commitment to the country. To go back and to undermine the basis of that investment would seriously challenge any future investments.”

It should also be noted that the deal includes a stabilisation clause which prevents the government from unilaterally altering the contract terms without financial consequences.

The oil deal was signed by former Minister of Natural Resources, Raphael Trotman, who served under the APNU + AFC Coalition government between 2015 and 2020. A few years ago, Trotman in his book titled, “From Destiny to Prosperity” offered support to the government to renegotiate the lopsided Stabroek Block deal. However, Trotman’s offer was refused by the current People’s Progressive Party administration.

Ali told the Houston Chronicle that while his administration has no plans to change the fiscal terms of the Exxon deal, his government has created a new PSA with improved terms that will be used for future oil blocks operations offshore Guyana.

Moreover, President Ali shared that his administration’s approach to maintaining relationships, focuses on cooperation rather than confrontation, particularly when it comes to its relationships with Houston’s biggest companies – ExxonMobil and Chevron.

“We try to manage by results. For us, the result is, under the given circumstances, the best possible outcome for our people, the best decisions that can maximise the benefit that comes to our people. Those benefits include … not only the building out of world-class health care, world-class education … ensuring that we maximise the type of opportunities that can come to the Guyanese. We passed a specific legislation that has a local component to upscale transfer knowledge, transfer technology and create as many business opportunities as possible for the Guyanese people,” Ali said.

 

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• Chevron, ExxonMobil, Irfaan Ali, President Alistair Routledge, Stabroek Block

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