San Diego, California: Guyana’s growing crude oil output is quickly reshaping energy markets, and the United States is taking note. This is according to Laura Lochman, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Energy Resources, U.S. Department of State. Speaking at the La Jolla Energy Conference in San Diego, California, she said Guyana is part of a group of supply boosters that are having a profound impact on prices.
“The fast-growing oil production is reshaping energy markets and is positioning the country to become one of the major oil producers in the Americas,” Lochman said in an October 17 keynote address. “The extra oil capacity that Guyana along with Brazil, Argentina and the U.S. is adding to the global energy market is already playing a huge role in stabilizing the market and making it harder for those manipulating energy prices to harm consumers in South America, the global South, and here in San Diego.”
Lochman is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service with over 30 years of experience in policy analysis and implementation. She has served in various overseas assignments with the Department of State.
The conference, led by the Institute of the Americas, brought together movers and shakers in the Latin American energy sector to discuss the geopolitics of energy and climate change in the region.
A May report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said Guyana was the third fastest growing crude oil producer in the period 2020-2023 that is not a member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). The Saudi-led oil cartel meets periodically to determine how they may adjust production to influence prices. Trailing the U.S. and Brazil, Guyana added an annual average of 98,000 barrels per day (b/d) in the period, the U.S. EIA said.
Production from three offshore platforms operated by ExxonMobil closed August 2024 at 663,000 b/d, government data shows. Exxon is due to add a fourth platform in 2025, which will take the country’s production in the range of 850,000-900,000 b/d. Guyana is likely to surpass Venezuela’s daily production and is set to become the world’s largest per capita oil producer.
Exxon will also add two more platforms in the 2026-2027 period, taking capacity over 1.3 million b/d. Only Exxon has discovered commercial volumes offshore Guyana. It operates the Stabroek Block where all projects are located, in partnership with Hess and CNOOC.
