U.S. official sees ‘perfect alignment’ between Guyana and ExxonMobil

May 18, 2026 News

…as calls grow for renegotiation of lopsided oil deal

(Kaieteur News) – United States Under Secretary for Economic Affairs Jacob Helberg last week said he sees strong alignment between the Government of Guyana and ExxonMobil, when asked if he thinks it is wise for Guyana to seek to renegotiate the contract it has with the American oil giant at this stage.

Oil was discovered offshore Guyana in 2015 and the following year; the APNU+ AFC Coalition government inked a Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) with ExxonMobil Guyana Limited (EMGL) for the Stabroek Block. That oil contract is now heavily criticised due to its lopsided nature-benefitting EMGL and its partners, Hess Corporation and CNOOC more than Guyana.

U.S. official sees ‘perfect alignment’ between Guyana and ExxonMobil

United States Under Secretary for Economic Affairs Jacob Helberg and President Irfaan Ali.

Last Wednesday, during a press briefing at the U.S Embassy in Georgetown, Helberg in response to the question on renegotiation of the oil contract highlighted that since being in Guyana, he met with both President Irfaan Ali and EMGL’s President Alistair Routledge.

“All I can say is I didn’t see any daylight between President Ali’s vision and the vision that was presented to me by the country president of Exxon. It seemed like their visions are completely synergistic,” the Under Secretary noted.

He added, “It’s very rare to go to a place and see such perfect alignment between the proposals that we were prepared to bring on areas of partnership opportunities and the overlap with the host country, in this case Guyana, as well as the leadership of Exxon.”

United States Under Secretary for Economic Affairs Jacob Helberg (right) and EMGL’s President Alistair Routledge.

To this end, he added that from his engagements with the Guyanese head-of-state and the Exxon official, he sees an enormous amount of convergence. Under Secretary Helberg said there appears to be a shared focus on expanding economic opportunities and investment.

“I think everyone is very, very focused on growing the pie and bringing more jobs and investment to Guyana in a way that’s mutually beneficial for both of our countries,” he added.

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.

Since assuming office in August 2020, President Ali has since maintained that changes to the contract would not happen under his administration. Just recently he noted that such a move could result in a “legal hurdle of an unimaginable scale.”

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.

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Alistair Routledge, ExxonMobil, Guyana and Exxon, Guyana Oil, lopsided oil contract, perfect alignment

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