A year after Chevron completed its acquisition of Hess, Guyana is emerging as a distinct part of the company’s longer-term production outlook, with a resource base that can support successive offshore developments through the 2030s.
Chevron acquired Hess in July 2025, gaining a 30% interest in Guyana’s Stabroek Block along with producing and developing assets in the Bakken, Gulf of America and Southeast Asia. Chevron has described Guyana as a long-cycle growth opportunity, distinguishing it from assets where production growth depends more heavily on existing operations and drilling activity.
Guyana’s growth runway
The scale of the Stabroek Block is central to that outlook.
As operator of the block, ExxonMobil says it has discovered more than 11 billion barrels of oil-equivalent, with production expanding rapidly since the Liza 1 development began producing in 2019.
Four projects are currently producing, with production capacity exceeding 900,000 barrels per day (b/d) in 2026. Further developments are already in the pipeline. Uaru is designed to add about 250,000 b/d, followed by Whiptail at a similar capacity. Hammerhead, scheduled for 2029, is expected to add another 150,000 b/d.
Beyond these projects, Longtail and Haimara have been proposed as the first two major natural gas developments, adding to Guyana’s long-term production.
A different type of growth
The Bakken, based in North Dakota, gives Chevron a large U.S. shale position that can be developed through drilling and capital allocation. Chevron reported 50,000 b/d of net crude oil production from the Bakken in 2025, along with 463,000 net acres in the play. The company is applying its shale and tight-oil expertise to improve efficiency, making the Bakken a repeatable development model in which production can be expanded through continued drilling and investment.
Chevron CFO says Hess portfolio, including Guyana, adds 250,000 b/d to production growth | OilNOW
Guyana works differently. Rather than adding production primarily through recurring drilling, growth comes through large offshore developments, and new barrels require more floating production, storage and offloading vessels, subsea infrastructure and substantial upfront investment. Once sanctioned, however, each development can add significant production capacity in relatively large increments.
Guyana vs pre- Hess portfolio
The country’s growth profile also differs from much of Chevron’s pre-Hess oil portfolio, which included established production in the Permian Basin, Gulf of Mexico, Kazakhstan and West Africa. Chevron’s 2025 figures show the scale of that existing base, with 434,000 b/d of net crude production from the Permian while its Angola operations contributed 47,000 b/d.
Guyana, on the other hand, is a relatively young producing province with substantial development still ahead. While Chevron’s pre-Hess portfolio included both established production and development opportunities, the Stabroek Block offers a concentrated sequence of large offshore projects within a relatively young producing basin.
New oil plays not matching growth of earlier Guyana-scale successes – Westwood | OilNOW
ExxonMobil is continuing to appraise existing discoveries, test new oil and gas prospects and evaluate additional areas of the block, while also looking for ways to increase recovery from producing developments such as Yellowtail.
For Chevron, its 30% Stabroek interest can continue to generate value as new developments come online, with the company benefiting from its share of future production and cash flow despite being a non-operator.
