Guyana's profits will decline

Guyana’s profits will decline

Sep 06, 2026 Editorial, News

Editorial…

(Kaieteur News) – ExxonMobil has stated its position very clearly. Its investors come first. Their interests will not be sacrificed. Guyana will have to make the sacrifice; Guyana will have to give up some of its profits. It is new debt-free, cost bank-empty, cost recovery down-to-operating-expenses, profits. Guyana’s profits have to decline, so that ExxonMobil’s investors can prosper. Extract a sizable portion of the new profit formula out of Guyanese backs, so that ExxonMobil stakeholders can continue to celebrate.

This meets all the conditions of absolute madness. If citizens of Guyana never saw or hear or felt this before, they have every reason to do so now. ExxonMobil is not the partner that it claims to be. ExxonMobil is into what has all the attributes of six-for-a-nine, a sweet-talking hustler, with Guyanese constantly fooled, and the government and peoples of this country converted into perpetual losers.

We at this paper find this infuriating, most degrading. From one side of their mouths, people from ExxonMobil make a huge production of the ExxonMobil-Guyana Government partnership, and how much they hold Guyanese as partners. From the other side of their mouths, the facts emerge. ExxonMobil’s Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Neil Hansen, had the job of helping the company’s investors settle down, instilling some confidence in them. “So again, as we mentioned…we’ve fully recovered the US$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%. The reality is we have more investment. To the extent we have the investment come in and operating costs, it still goes into the cost bank. We’ll still recover that at that 75% cap. But there’s much less investment to recover.”

We examine CFO Hansen’s words, and its implications for Guyana. First, “we have more investment” to make in Guyana’s Stabroek Block is an early warning that the Cost Bank will be fed more billions in expenses. Second, ExxonMobil is preparing to return to the old rip-off standard that takes 75% of oil revenues (minus 2% royalty), for the expenses that it claims. Hansen said it: “we’ll still recover that at that 75% cap.” More simply stated, ExxonMobil invests billions in new oil projects, and those billions will be recovered from the cash inflow from Guyana’s oil sales. Therefore, the company’s investors, stakeholders, should calm their fears. There is nothing to be worried about. The Cost Bank will be rebuilt, and investors will be happy. ExxonMobil’s stakeholders can rest assured that they are going back to the gravy days of the past six years. It is business in the same rip-off manner.

But Hansen was nothing if not also crafty enough to send a signal to Guyanese. “There’s much less investment to recover” which indicates that ExxonMobil will not allow its stake in Guyana to reach US$55B. So, Guyana will not have to endure another six years before the investment debt is paid off, and a real 50:50 profit share returns. Hansen has done his job for his company. Now we must do ours and speak to Guyanese and for Guyanese.

It is obvious that ExxonMobil is not shifting a millimeter on its non-renegotiation of the 2016 Production Sharing Agreement position. It is bent on exploiting to the fullest, and gouging Guyana as much as it can. But still has the gall to utter platitudes about being a warm, caring partner to Guyanese.

These are the developments, the attitudes, that make us think of how much of an impostor ExxonMobil is. Smile in Guyanese face, then stab them in the back, when they let down their guard. If ExxonMobil is a genuine partner, renegotiate the contract, pay some taxes, get rid of ring-fencing. Those are the first confirmations that a genuine partnership is in place. But this so-called pretender of a partner would not budge from its non-renegotiation position. Guyana gets ripped-off, ExxonMobil’s investors profit handsomely.

ExxonMobil is not a partner. ExxonMobil is a predator waiting to ambush and grab what belongs to Guyanese, what was sweated for over the last six years. Profits will decline. Should not ExxonMobil be sent out of this country on the next boat or plane?

Discover more from Kaieteur News

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Editorial, ExxonMobil, Guyana’s oil profits

Latest News