ExxonMobil Warns Investors Guyana’s Oil Profits Will Shrink Again

By NAN Business Editor, NewsAmericas Now

News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Weds. Sept. 2, 2026: ExxonMobil has assured investors that Guyana’s share of profits from the Stabroek Block will decline again as the company finances new offshore projects, even as the country’s opposition and legal experts push for Georgetown to renegotiate its production agreement before approving further developments.

Exxon Senior Vice President and CFO Neil Hansen told investors on a recent earnings call that the company has now fully recovered its initial $55 billion investment in Guyana, along with operating costs, a milestone that had allowed Guyana’s profit share to rise to 39.8%. But Hansen said additional investment in new projects will again be added to Exxon’s recoverable cost bank, which the company can claim up to a cap of 75% of production, before profits are split 50/50 with the government.

“So again, as we mentioned, at this point, 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%. After that, the remaining production is shared 50/50 between us and the government of Guyana,” Hansen said. He added that Exxon has more investment coming and that new costs will again be recovered under the same 75% cap, though he said the cost bank is unlikely to swell as high as before given the offshore project’s now-higher production rate.

Local officials have warned the pattern could push Guyana’s profit share from the current 39.8% back down toward the 12.5% level the country received for years while Exxon recovered its original investment, if new projects are approved under the same financing terms.

Calls to renegotiate

Aubrey Norton, leader of the People’s National Congress Reform, said at a press conference last week that Guyana should not remain bound to the original contract terms now that circumstances have changed. “There are going to be new agreements now, and I think they should reflect the present state of affairs. We have paid off the initial investment and we should not now be tied to that old agreement in future investments,” Norton said. “It’s not a case in 1999, when we started, and the government agreed to 1%… There were still risks. But there are now no risks of them not finding oil.”

Chartered accountant and attorney Christopher Ram called on the government to invoke provisions in the 2016 Production Sharing Agreement allowing for renegotiation. “Now that this moment has arrived, and the project has become risk-free, it is entirely appropriate that the government calls Exxon to the table and say, look we must renegotiate this contract now,” Ram said.

Ram proposed several changes, including raising royalties to between 6% and 10%, requiring companies to bear decommissioning costs without recovering them from production, treating each production license as a separate cost center recovering only its own costs, and lowering the overall recovery cap from 75% to 50%, a figure he said is more common across other oil-producing jurisdictions.

Government response

President Irfaan Ali said the government will seek expert advice on how future Stabroek Block projects should be financed. “Now that we are at this new phase in the development of our oil and gas sector, there are ongoing internal discussions and of course we will also seek expert advice on this matter,” Ali said, citing the need to weigh investment structure, funding sources and planned exploration activity.

One option under consideration is a ring-fencing provision, under which Exxon would only recover the cost of a new project once that specific operation begins producing oil, rather than drawing from the shared cost bank. Opposition MP Saiku Andrews said Guyana should be treated as an investor and receive a larger revenue share if its profits are again used to help finance new projects.

NewsAmericasNow will continue tracking developments in Guyana’s oil and gas sector. Reporting from Kaieteur News contributed to this story.

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