Guyana President Irfaan Ali said Tuesday that Guyana is now entitled to 39.8% of all crude oil produced from the Stabroek Block, up from 12.5% since production began in December 2019. This means Guyana’s entitlement is the largest share among the parties.
The increase does not represent a change to Guyana’s share of profit oil, which remains 50%. Rather, a much larger portion of overall production is now available to be classified as profit oil because the ExxonMobil-led Stabroek Block group requires less oil to recover its expenses.
Speaking at a press conference in Georgetown, the President explained that the group now requires about “20 barrels” out of every 100 produced to recover its expenses. This means roughly 80 barrels out of every 100 are available as profit oil, which is divided equally between Guyana and the Stabroek Block co-venturers.
Previously, the companies could use up to 75% of production for expense recovery, leaving 25% as profit oil. Guyana’s 50% share of that profit oil had amounted to 12.5% of overall production.
However, Exxon announced recently that the group recovered US$55 billion in investments, representing a significant amount of the investments made to develop the resources.
ExxonMobil is the operator of the block with a 45% stake, alongside Hess (owned by Chevron, 30%), and CNOOC (25%). Production capacity currently exceeds 900,000 barrels per day.
