Govt. to make announcement soon on increased oil revenue for Guyana - Minister Bharrat

Govt. to make announcement soon on increased oil revenue for Guyana – Minister Bharrat

May 12, 2026 News

…as country inches closer to repaying Exxon

By Davina Bagot

(Kaieteur News) – As Guyana inches nearer to repaying ExxonMobil for its investments in the Stabroek Block, the country can begin receiving 50% profits instead of 12.5%.

This would significantly increase revenue flow to the country, by as much as four times its current share – a subject that is likely to be addressed soon by government according to Minister of Natural Resources, Vickram Bharrat.

On Monday, minister Bharrat during an interview with Kaieteur News was asked whether the Government of Guyana (GoG) is considering ring-fencing the two new projects announced by ExxonMobil – the eighth and ninth – since the company previously revealed that US$5 billion in costs were likely to be repaid by the end of this year.

Govt. to make announcement soon on increased oil revenue for Guyana - Minister Bharrat

Minister of Natural Resources, Vickram Bharrat

To this end, Bharrat noted that Longtail and Haimara, Exxon’s eighth and ninth projects, respectively are in the planning phase, with no approval granted to date. This means that the cost bank is currently being repaid or reduced rapidly. In accordance with the 2016 oil contract, after the cost bank is clear, Guyana will be entitled to 50% of the revenue generated in Stabroek, after operation expense is paid.

As such, Bharrat explained, “No new project is added because there is no approval and you would have heard from several persons that we are coming to a desaturation point…so we’ll be able to maybe hold a press conference or the president might say something publicly on that issue on the desaturation of the cost bank and how it will operate moving forward.”

Regarding increased revenue flow for Guyana, he noted that although no other project cost has been added to the cost bank, other expenses relating to exploration is still being incurred.

“On your question about 50/50, remember there is still some amount of expenses being incurred in terms of exploration activities in the Stabroek Block. Now they still have a year more on that exploration licence, so those are costs that will still be accumulated too. That’s why we say we didn’t pay off the cost bank, but its being desaturated so we will now have to look at the numbers and look at the work ongoing in the block to see at what point in time we will get to that 50/50 profit sharing of oil,” Bharrat explained.

Be that as it may, he indicated that Guyana is still poised to begin receiving more oil lifts in a mere “few months”. Each oil lift is equivalent to approximately one million barrels.

In March this year, president of ExxonMobil Guyana Limited (EMGL), Alistair Routledge revealed that Guyana was likely to pay off the cost bank by the end of 2026 due to the higher oil prices. Currently, four projects are producing approximately 920,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd) offshore Guyana. A fifth project, Uaru is likely to startup before the end of this year and will increase the country’s output to about 1.2 million bpd.

“If you stay at the current oil price then it will happen this year based on the level of expenditures and the production that we anticipate so that’s a significant acceleration. What that then means is that instead roughly the 14 and a half per cent that the country has been receiving by way of revenues into the Natural Resource Fund from the Stabroek production and revenues, what will happen is that percentage will significantly increase,” Routledge told reporters.

Following the recovery of all costs, Article 11.4 provides “The balance of crude oil…shall be shared between the government and the contractor for each field in the following proportions: Contractor fifty per cent (50%) and minister fifty per cent (50%).”

So far, ExxonMobil has expended US$40 billion to develop the seven oil projects approved to date.

Guyana could have already been receiving 50% of profits from the four projects in operation. Due to the lack of ring-fencing, Exxon takes a portion of the revenue to develop other projects.

By failing to ring-fence the projects, Exxon will continue to use profits that should come to this country to pay for projects that are yet to start producing oil. A ring-fencing provision will ensure the country gets its full 50% profits.

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Cost Bank, ExxonMobil, oil revenue, ring-fencing, Vickram Bharrat

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