After 10 days of silence, Govt. confirms Guyana receiving 50% profit share

Aug 12, 2026 News

…VP Jagdeo, Oil Minister still to face nation

(Kaieteur News) – After 10 days of silence on the significant announcement by ExxonMobil that the company has recovered its full US$55B investment in Guyana, a government representative on Tuesday confirmed that the country is currently receiving 50% of the profits generated in the Stabroek Block.

During the launch of the 2027 Guyana Energy Conference, Head of the Local Content Secretariat, Michael Munroe offered remarks on behalf of Natural Resources Minister, Vickram Bharrat.

He was asked by the media to say whether the Government of Guyana (GoG) is honouring the 2016 Petroleum Agreement to ensure the country gets its 50% profit share.

After 10 days of silence, Govt. confirms Guyana receiving 50% profit share

Head of the Local Content Secretariat under the Ministry of Natural Resources, Michael Munroe

To this end, Munroe confirmed that the 50% profit share has already taken effect.

He said, “Yes, we have always honoured that commitment, of course if you understand the petroleum agreement there is a cap for cost recovery and subsequently profit oil is 50/50 so that has always been the arrangement and even in light of the payment of the US$55B there is still that honouring of the split of profit oil so yes that’s always 50/50.”

It is important to note that since the company revealed to its shareholders on July 31, 2026 that its investments have been recovered in Guyana, there has been no official statement from the government on the matter.

In fact, the official only provided the comment after being asked a question at the event.

On Tuesday, Minister Bharrat told this newspaper that he will issue a statement on the recovery of costs by the operator but gave no timeline.

His commitment comes more than 10 days after the news was shared with shareholders of the American oil giant by Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Chairman of Exxon, Darren Woods.

For his part, president of ExxonMobil Guyana Limited (EMGL), Alistair Routledge provided insight on the use of the US$55 billion in Guyana. He told reporters at the event with Munroe, “It has been used to invest in major developments that have taken place in Stabroek, starting with Liza One and Liza Two, Payara, Yellowtail, Uaru which is about to startup, Whiptail which is on the way. It has been well invested as we have seen for the revenue streams that are flowing now as we’ve made clear that indeed with the higher oil price that we’ve seen this year and higher oil production we can be able to accelerate the repayment of those upfront investments that have been made in the Stabroek Block.”

The recovery of investments by the Stabroek Block partners means that Guyana is now entitled to a larger share of profits in keeping the PSA.

In accordance with the 2016 Production Sharing Agreement (PSA), the contractor is allowed to deduct 75% of the oil produced monthly to recover its investments. The remaining 25% is then split with Guyana as profits, meaning the country collects 12.5% of profits.

After Exxon recovers its investment, the country will be entitled to 50% of the oil produced, after the operator takes out operating and other expenses.

Some stakeholders have already explained that while this would not mean 50% for Guyana, it would increase the country’s current share from 12.5%. In fact, Leader of the Opposition, Azruddin Mohamed estimates that the country’s earnings could now triple.

The businessman said, “Let me give you an example. Let’s say we are producing 920,000 barrels of oil per day; that means in a month we will be producing 27,600,000 barrels per month. And before, we would receive 12.5% profit oil and 2% in royalties from that amount, giving us 4,002,000 barrels multiplied by the average of 80 USD, that’s 320,160,000 USD per month. Now, if we receive three times more, we could receive 12,006,000 barrels. At an average of 80 USD per barrel, that equates to 960,480,000 USD (per month).”

Former Finance Minister Winston Jordan also posited that instead of 75% cost, expenditure could fall to about 37%. He said, “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%.”

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ExxonMobil, Guyana Oil, Ministry of Natural Resources, Oil profit

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