Guyanese should be outraged over Govt. silence on 50% profits now due to country – former Finance Minister

Aug 11, 2026 News

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…urges opposition to press for answers

(Kaieteur News) – Guyana is now entitled to a larger share of the resources being generated offshore but instead of government providing full disclosure on what the recovery of Exxon’s investments means for the nation, citizens continue to be left in the dark while the opposition appears caught up in other matters.

This is the view of former Minister of Finance, Winston Jordan who told this newspaper in an exclusive interview on Monday that the provisions of the 2016 Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) should now take effect, allowing Guyana’s profit share to increase.

On 31^st July, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Chairman of ExxonMobil, Darren Woods revealed that the company has recovered all of its investments made in Guyana to date. As a result, he told shareholders that the company’s earnings from the country will be reduced.

To this end, the former finance minister explained, “…in accordance with the PSA, profit should now be calculated in the usual manner, that is revenue minus all eligible expenditure, and shared in the same 50:50 split.”

Jordan continued, “I’ve seen calculations where expenditure could go down to about 37% of revenues, which would leave 63% as profit to be shared equally between. That means GoG would be entitled to 31.5%+2% royalty = 33.5%.”

He pointed out that this would be more than double the 14.5% Guyana currently receives in profit along with the 2% royalty.

Moreover, he highlighted that this could result in the Natural Resource Fund (NRF) receiving between US$8-10 billion annually at current oil prices- up from the average US$2.7 billion.

In the same breath, the former Member of Parliament (MP) cautioned that there is a dangerous obstacle that can cause further delays, the lack of ring-fencing. If implemented, a ring-fencing provision would block ExxonMobil from using profits generated today to invest in upcoming projects. Future developments will be paid off once production commences at the specific project if government applies ring-fencing.

Due to the lack of this provision, the former minister explained, “The cost bank is never really repaid in full. And that implies that Exxon can still take up to 75% of revenues as cost oil. So, the expectation by GoG of higher profit share could be illusory, as Exxon ramps up exploratory activities and brings more fields into production (adding cost for more FPSOs).”

Jordan pointed out that Exxon has already set its eyes on the 8th and 9^th projects for Stabroek.

As the news of this major development in the country’s petroleum sector continues to be ignored by the government, Jordan said it demonstrates a troubling pattern and is indicative of the administration’s callous disregard for citizens.

According to him, “It is not the first time that critical information in the sector has either been withheld or obfuscated or met with stony silence. It is symptomatic of the wider malaise that has enveloped the society, in the absence of strong, independent and autonomous institutions and weak oversight of the sector.”

While calling out the government for failing to keep its promise to ring-fence the Stabroek Block projects, Jordan turned to the opposition.

“The current opposition appeared to be energised after the MV Barima tragedy. It shouldn’t be long before they turn their attention fully to this situation,” he urged. Jordan told this newspaper that the political opposition should be equally or perhaps even more outraged over the fact that the GoG has been silent for days on the massive revenues that now flow to the country.

Exxon’s announcement

During Exxon’s earnings call on 31^st July, 2026 the CEO described Guyana’s progress as a success story that has set a new standard for the industry, exceeding even the company’s expectations. Exxon said it expected the cost bank to be cleared in another two years. Woods however said, “Delivering on tight schedules, at industry-leading cost – with strong reliability and optimised production – has resulted in recovering our capital and cost nearly two years earlier than anticipated, increasing NPV, and desaturating the cost bank.”

Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Exxon, Neil Hansen offered clarity, “…as we mentioned, at this point, we’ve fully recovered the $55 billion of investment, along with all the operating costs and the way the contractor agreement works is we can recover that investment up to 75%. After that, the remaining production is shared 50/50 between us and the government of Guyana.”

 Govt. silence

Following the announcement by Exxon, questions were sent to the Minister of Natural Resources, Vickram Bharrat on 31^st July requesting a cost recovery update to no avail. Subsequent messages sent to the minister as recent as Monday, on the issue, were also unanswered.

Similarly, Vice President and Chief Policymaker for the oil and gas sector, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo has not offered any statements or public comment on the development. Kaieteur News did not receive any response to questions sent to him up to press time on Monday.

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• exonmobil, Guyana Oil, oil profits, outraged

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