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iQor Launches Global Gaming Center of Excellence in Trinidad and Tobago

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News Americas, FT. LAUDERDALE, Fla., Sept. 08, 2026: iQor, a global leader in customer experience business process outsourcing, today announced the launch of its global Gaming Center of Excellence in Trinidad and Tobago. The new center serves as the flagship hub for iQor’s expanding global Gaming Practice, anchoring the leadership that oversees gaming delivery across Egypt, the Philippines and Colombia. The center features a new gaming-native Player Support program for one of the world’s leading video game publishers.

The launch reflects iQor’s growing investment in specialized customer experience solutions for the gaming industry, where player expectations continue to rise alongside the complexity of live-service titles, cross-platform and mobile-first experiences and global gaming communities. Retaining and engaging players is now as critical for publishers and studios as acquiring them, making Player Support a critical function that goes beyond resolving issues to protecting player trust, engagement and long-term loyalty.

iQor’s Gaming Practice brings together Player Support, Trust and Safety and content moderation, player insights and technology-enabled operations to help publishers create more connected player experiences. The Trinidad and Tobago Center of Excellence is designed specifically around the needs of players, with specialists who understand games, gaming communities and the emotional connection players have with their progress and experiences.

Team members are selected not only for their customer service capabilities, but also for their gaming experience, critical-thinking skills and ability to communicate naturally and authentically with players. Training consists of hands-on game and platform immersion, simulated player interactions, technical troubleshooting and empathy-based resolution practices.

“Players know right away whether the person helping them truly understands their game,” said John Pompei, gaming industry veteran and vice president, Gaming Practice at iQor. “We built this program around people with real gaming knowledge and hands-on training, because great Player Support is about more than resolving an issue. It’s about protecting a player’s progress, building trust and strengthening their connection to the game.”

As part of its investment and commitment to serve the gaming industry, iQor built dedicated gaming stations within its Trinidad hub, giving Player Support specialists hands-on access to the games, consoles, PCs, mobile devices, peripherals and platforms players use. Located near the production floor, the stations enable specialists to play, test and navigate common player scenarios firsthand, building deeper knowledge of the in-game player experience and greater credibility in support interactions.

The Trinidad-based team assists players with account access, game progression, missing content, purchases, technical issues and other challenges that affect gameplay.

Structured quality management, coaching and operational insights continuously strengthen the player experience, with the ability to incorporate AI-enabled capabilities as the partnership evolves and the publisher’s needs grow.

iQor selected Trinidad and Tobago as its global Gaming Center of Excellence based on the market’s customer experience talent, cultural alignment with North American players and ability to scale with game launches, live events and shifts in player demand.

As iQor’s global Center of Excellence for gaming, Trinidad and Tobago is where the strategies, training models and operational playbooks powering iQor’s Gaming Practice are built and refined, then deployed across the company’s broader gaming footprint in Egypt, the Philippines and Colombia, where teams support live-service and console gaming clients across more than 20 languages, including a leading global console manufacturer.

Beyond its delivery operations, iQor is deepening its presence in the gaming industry as a sponsor of the Live Service Gaming Summit | Game Publishing, Marketing & Community UK 2026, Sept. 8-9 at the Millennium Gloucester Hotel and Conference Centre in London, UK. Pompei will join Jonathan Shroyer, senior vice president, Gaming and AI at iQor, on stage in a session titled Your Player Doesn’t Know Your Org Chart – Why Connected Player Intelligence Is the Next Operating Model for Gaming to discuss how iQor helps gaming companies strengthen player loyalty through player support, trust and safety, community engagement and AI-powered insights that turn player interactions into opportunities for retention and growth.

About iQor
iQor is a trusted partner in customer experience solutions for global brands and a portfolio company of Mill Point Capital. With 45,000 employees across 10 countries, iQor combines three decades of expertise with AI-driven innovation to optimize performance across the entire customer lifecycle. Through its three delivery pillars — Grow, CXBPO, and infinityAiQ — iQor delivers scalable solutions that drive acquisition, engagement, and retention. Powered by advanced analytics and a people-first culture, iQor transforms customer interactions into measurable growth. Recognized as a Great Place to Work® and a leader in CX excellence, iQor empowers brands to grow smarter. Learn more at iQor.com.

You may also like: ExxonMobil Warns Investors Guyana’s Oil Profits Will Shrink Again

ExxonMobil Warns Investors Guyana’s Oil Profits Will Shrink Again

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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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After Guyana, Now Trinidad And Tobago: ExxonMobil’s First Real Signal Arrives By End Of August

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By NAN Business News Editor, NewsAmericas Now

News Americas, PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, Weds. August 26, 2026: ExxonMobil is returning to Trinidad and Tobago after more than two decades away, and the first real signal of what it finds arrives by the end of August.

Trinidad and Tobago’s Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar confirmed that seismic results from Block TTUD-1 are expected within weeks. “I was told that we would get the results by the end of August,” she said. ExxonMobil has been running a 3D seismic survey across roughly 6,000 square kilometers of the ultra-deep water block, located off the country’s east coast in water depths exceeding 2,000 meters.

TTUD-1 combines seven former offshore blocks into one acreage larger than Trinidad and Tobago’s entire land area. ExxonMobil signed the production-sharing contract in August 2025, committing to seismic acquisition followed by at least one exploration well in the first phase. The company hit its own target of launching the seismic program within six months of signing, with acquisition roughly 85% complete by June and expected to wrap by late July.

Occidental Petroleum’s subsidiary, Anadarko Caribbean, later acquired a 10% stake in the block, leaving Exxon as operator with a 90% interest. Persad-Bissessar pointed to that partnership as a signal of confidence in the acreage. “The fact that you brought in a partner with you means something good is happening there,” she told an ExxonMobil representative. “So, you’ve got a partner to invest alongside you.”

A block drawing comparisons to Guyana’s own boom

TTUD-1 sits northwest of Guyana’s Stabroek Block, where Exxon and its partners have made more than 30 discoveries and built one of the world’s fastest-growing oil economies. Industry analysts have compared TTUD-1’s potential to the broader Guyana-Suriname Basin, as well as Ghana’s Tano Basin and offshore Nigeria, other deepwater provinces that have delivered major discoveries in recent years.

For Trinidad and Tobago, a country pursuing new resources as its mature onshore and shallow-water fields decline, the stakes behind the next few weeks are real. A positive seismic read wouldn’t guarantee a discovery, exploration wells still have to confirm what’s actually down there, but it would determine whether Exxon moves forward with drilling at all, and how aggressively.

NewsAmericasNow will continue tracking ExxonMobil’s exploration activity across the Caribbean.

RELATED: ExxonMobil Just Posted $14.5 Billion In Profit As Guyana Is Still Burying Its Dead And Protesting In The Streets

Are Caribbean Governments Giving Away Too Much To Attract Investors?

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By NAN Business Editor

News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Mon. August 24, 2026: Caribbean governments seeking foreign and domestic investment are being urged to reconsider how they use tax holidays, exemptions and discretionary concessions to entice businesses – as pressure grows to raise more domestic revenue without undermining economic growth.

The recommendation comes from the Inter-American Development Bank’s latest Caribbean Economics Quarterly, which examines fiscal resilience and domestic revenue mobilization across Caribbean economies. Rather than abandoning investment incentives, the IDB argues governments should make them more transparent, rules-based, time-limited and subject to regular evaluation. It also recommends moving away from discretionary waivers and broad exemptions that can erode government revenue without necessarily producing sufficient additional investment.

The recommendations raise a fundamental question for Caribbean economies competing for international capital: How much tax revenue should governments surrender to secure an investment -and what should taxpayers receive in return?

IDB Favors Incentives Tied To Actual Investment

One of the report’s notable recommendations is greater use of expenditure-based investment incentives rather than broad income-tax exemptions.

The reasoning is important. Expenditure-based incentives can be linked more closely to actual investment activity, allowing governments to reward qualifying investment rather than simply reducing corporate income-tax obligations over an extended period. Such an approach could allow Caribbean countries to remain competitive in attracting capital while making incentives more closely dependent on measurable investment.

The issue has become more important as governments seek additional revenue to finance infrastructure and public services while managing debt and other fiscal pressures.

Caribbean Borrowing Remains Expensive

The IDB assessment comes as the international interest-rate environment continues to affect Caribbean government finances. Although sovereign spreads across the region have narrowed, borrowing costs remain elevated. The report identifies an increase of roughly 200 basis points in U.S. interest rates since 2022 as an important factor offsetting the benefit Caribbean borrowers would otherwise have received from improving sovereign spreads.

That makes domestic revenue collection increasingly significant. Caribbean tax systems are also particularly reliant on consumption and other indirect taxes. According to the IDB, indirect taxation accounts for about 51% of Caribbean tax revenue, compared with approximately 35% in OECD economies.

Governments therefore face a difficult balancing act: attracting the private investment needed to drive growth while avoiding incentives that unnecessarily weaken the revenue base.

Not An End To Caribbean Investment Incentives

The IDB report does not say Caribbean governments are collectively ending tax incentives, nor does it establish that every existing incentive is excessive. Instead, it calls for better design and greater accountability. Among the approaches advocated are published, rules-based eligibility criteria, limits on the duration of incentives and regular assessments of whether concessions are producing the investment and economic activity they were intended to generate.

That distinction matters to investors. A more transparent system could actually make Caribbean markets more predictable for businesses deciding where to deploy capital. Rather than relying heavily on negotiated concessions, companies could have greater clarity about what incentives are available, which investments qualify and how long benefits will last.

For Caribbean governments, however, the policy challenge is more complicated. Countries compete not only against one another but against investment destinations worldwide. Tax treatment can influence location decisions, particularly for capital-intensive projects. Yet every exemption also has a potential fiscal cost. The emerging policy question is therefore not simply whether Caribbean governments should continue offering investment incentives.

It is whether those incentives are generating enough additional investment, employment and productive economic activity to justify what governments give up in return.

For deeper analysis of what the IDB recommendations could mean for businesses and investors, read “Caribbean Investment Incentives: IDB Urges Governments To Rethink Tax Breaks And Waivers” on Invest Caribbean.

RELATED: Since When Is The US Department Of War A Foreign Investor? The $85.5 Million Guyana Question

Caribbean Economy To Grow 5.6% In 2026 – But Just 1.1% Without Guyana, ECLAC Says

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By NAN Business Editor

News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Fri. August 21, 2026: The Caribbean economy is projected to grow by an impressive 5.6% in 2026 and 7.9% in 2027, but new United Nations data show that one country is dramatically altering the regional picture: Guyana.

Without Guyana, Caribbean economic growth falls to just 1.1% in 2026 and 2.2% in 2027, according to the newly released Economic Survey of Latin America and the Caribbean 2026 from the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, ECLAC.

The striking difference illustrates the growing economic divide between oil-rich Guyana and much of the rest of the Caribbean. ECLAC forecasts Guyana’s economy will expand by 16.2% this year before accelerating to 19.7% in 2027. No other Caribbean economy comes close. Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada and Suriname share second place in the 2026 rankings, with projected growth of 3.5% each.

Caribbean Growth Forecasts Ranked

RankEconomy202620271Guyana16.2%19.7%2=Antigua and Barbuda3.5%3.5%2=Grenada3.5%3.5%2=Suriname3.5%4.4%5Dominica3.1%2.8%6St. Vincent and the Grenadines3.0%2.6%7=Barbados2.5%2.2%7=Belize2.5%2.3%9=The Bahamas2.0%2.2%9=St. Kitts and Nevis2.0%2.5%9=Saint Lucia2.0%1.5%12Trinidad and Tobago0.8%1.5%13Jamaica-1.2%2.5%

Source: ECLAC. Forecasts based on information available as of July 28, 2026.

Jamaica Forecast To Contract

At the opposite end of the table is Jamaica. ECLAC forecasts a 1.2% contraction in 2026, followed by a recovery to 2.5% growth in 2027.

Trinidad and Tobago is expected to post the second-weakest Caribbean performance this year, growing only 0.8%, before improving modestly to 1.5% next year.

Suriname, meanwhile, is forecast to accelerate from 3.5% growth in 2026 to 4.4% in 2027, putting it behind only Guyana among the Caribbean economies listed for next year.

The Bahamas is projected to grow 2% this year and 2.2% in 2027, while Barbados is forecast at 2.5% and 2.2%, respectively.

Caribbean Growth Outpaces Wider Region – On Paper

The Caribbean’s headline performance also appears exceptional when compared with Latin America and the Caribbean as a whole. ECLAC expects the wider region to grow only 2.2% in 2026, down from 2.4% in 2025, before recovering to 2.5% next year. But once Guyana is excluded, the Caribbean’s 1.1% growth forecast actually falls well below the wider regional projection.

ECLAC warns that the region remains caught in a prolonged period of weak economic expansion. If its latest forecasts prove correct, Latin America and the Caribbean will have experienced five years of average growth of approximately 2.3% – a pace the UN body considers insufficient to sustainably raise per-capita income and close development gaps.

Investment, Debt And Informality Remain Challenges

The problem extends beyond GDP growth. ECLAC identifies weak investment, slowing formal employment creation and persistent labor informality among the structural constraints limiting the region’s economic potential.

Nearly half of employed people across Latin America and the Caribbean continue to work informally, according to the report. The Commission argues that formal companies are better positioned to exploit economies of scale, adopt innovation, access financing and build productive capabilities.

Caribbean governments also continue to face substantial fiscal constraints. Gross public debt in the Caribbean stood at approximately 73% of GDP in 2025, according to ECLAC, while high financing costs and growing interest payments constrain governments’ ability to increase public investment and fund economic transformation.

The new projections therefore tell two Caribbean economic stories. One is a region apparently racing ahead at 5.6%. The other is a Caribbean outside Guyana growing at barely 1.1%. For businesses, governments and investors, the difference between those two numbers may be more revealing than the headline forecast itself.

READ MORE: For the investor analysis and what the country-by-country forecasts could mean for capital and investment, read “Caribbean Growth Forecast 2026–2027: Guyana Powers Regional Expansion, But The Numbers Reveal A Two-Speed Economy” on Invest Caribbean.

RELATED: ExxonMobil Just Posted $14.5 Billion In Profit As Guyana Is Still Burying Its Dead And Protesting In The Streets

New Data Points To A Caribbean Capital-Readiness Gap As Businesses Seek Millions In Financing

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By NAN Business Editor

News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Tues. August 25, 2026: Caribbean businesses may face another obstacle beyond the region’s widely discussed shortage of financing – Caribbean Capital-Readiness. Many may not yet be prepared for the type of institutional capital they are seeking.

A new analysis of financing demand submitted to AI Capital Exchange, the debt pre-qualification platform powered by Invest Caribbean, has identified recurring mismatches between financing requests and the revenue, sponsor equity, collateral and financial documentation presented by prospective borrowers.

ACE has analyzed more than $200 million in financing demand, with Caribbean commercial real estate alone accounting for more than $244 million in stated financing requests in the platform’s current dataset. The findings do not represent approved or financeable transactions. Rather, they capture stated capital demand submitted for consideration — a distinction that Invest Caribbean says is central to understanding the region’s financing problem.

Millions Sought, But Equity Remains A Challenge

The commercial real estate data offers some of the starkest examples. One Caribbean request sought $150 million in financing while reporting $3 million in cash equity, equivalent to approximately 2% of the amount requested. Another sought $50 million against $2 million in reported cash equity, while a $32.473 million request reported no cash equity contribution. Some applicants also reported having no audited financial statements.

The findings suggest that the challenge confronting Caribbean businesses may not simply be finding institutions willing to lend. Businesses must also arrive with financial structures capable of satisfying institutional lending requirements.

Being Ready To Pitch Isn’t Being Ready For Capital

Data from ACE’s Capital Readiness assessment reinforces that conclusion. Among Caribbean respondents seeking financing of $1 million or more, roughly 9 in 10 reported either no annual revenue or less than $500,000 in annual revenue. Yet approximately two-thirds said their pitch deck was ready.

That distinction has become a central part of ACE’s capital-readiness message. A pitch deck can communicate an investment proposition, but institutional debt decisions typically depend on considerably more: revenue and repayment capacity, sponsor equity, collateral where applicable, financial statements and the underlying structure of the transaction.

Debt, Equity – Or Both?

The findings also highlight a persistent source of confusion among businesses seeking capital: the difference between debt and equity. Early-stage businesses without sufficient operating revenue may be better suited to equity capital than conventional institutional debt. Larger projects may require sponsors to raise equity before lenders will finance the remaining capital requirement.

Other transactions may require a combination of the two. Similar mismatches are appearing in submissions from outside the Caribbean. ACE has observed African expansion financing requests of as much as $5 million against annual revenue as low as $150,000, while Capital Readiness data from Latin America includes seven-figure financing demand from businesses reporting less than $500,000 in annual revenue.

The emerging data suggests that capital readiness could therefore be a broader challenge across developing and emerging markets.

From Capital Access To Capital Readiness

The findings raise an important question for Caribbean economic-development programs. While considerable attention is devoted to expanding access to finance, connecting businesses with lenders may accomplish little when businesses have not first been taught how institutional capital works. That includes understanding appropriate debt levels, sponsor equity, financial documentation, repayment capacity and whether a business needs debt, equity or a combination of both.

Invest Caribbean executives argue that closing this knowledge gap should become part of the region’s broader conversation about SME development and investment. Read the full Invest Caribbean Intelligence analysis on the Caribbean capital-readiness gap at Invest Caribbean.

RELATED: Why Caribbean and Latin American Hotel and Commercial Property Owners Should Be Refinancing Now

Bahamas Tourism Investment Pipeline Hits $3.5 Billion As Visitor Arrivals Reach Record High

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By Nan Business Editor

News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Thurs. August 20, 2026: The Bahamas is seeing a major surge in tourism investment, with approximately $3.5 billion in announced and active projects across cruise infrastructure, luxury resorts, and destination development, according to the latest Caribbean Economics Quarterly from the Inter-American Development Bank.

The pipeline includes about $1.5 billion in cruise infrastructure in Grand Bahama, a $200 million Royal Beach Club Paradise Island development, and more than $1.3 billion in luxury resort projects across Eleuthera, the Exumas and Abaco. The investment wave comes as The Bahamas records historic visitor numbers. Tourist arrivals reached 12.5 million in 2025, up 11.4% from 2024 and about 72% above the 2019 pre-pandemic peak. But the visitor mix remains heavily skewed toward cruise tourism.

Approximately 85% of all arrivals were cruise passengers, a segment that tends to generate lower per-visitor economic value than stopover tourism. Meanwhile, stopover arrivals fell 2.6% to 1.82 million in 2025, continuing a recent softening in higher-value overnight tourism. That contrast raises questions about how effectively the country’s growing tourism infrastructure can translate record visitor volumes into deeper local spending, stronger employment and higher economic returns.

Foreign direct investment prospects remain positive. The report cites expected net FDI inflows of approximately $209 million in 2026, $263 million in 2027 and an annual average of $339 million between 2028 and 2030. Several of the projects are already under construction or operational, supporting construction and employment even where visitor trends fluctuate. The Bahamas therefore enters the second half of the decade with one of the largest visible tourism investment pipelines in the Caribbean.

The scale of the investment pipeline also underscores how central tourism remains to The Bahamas’ wider economic outlook. Large resort and cruise infrastructure projects can generate activity well beyond the properties themselves, creating demand across construction, transportation, food and beverage, professional services, entertainment and other tourism-linked businesses.

But the divergence between cruise and stopover arrivals will be important to watch. Record headline visitor numbers do not necessarily translate into equivalent increases in tourism receipts or domestic economic activity. Stopover visitors generally require accommodation and tend to spend across a wider range of local services, while cruise visitors spend less time in the destination.

The challenge for The Bahamas will therefore be converting the current investment cycle and unprecedented visitor volumes into greater value retained within the economy. New tourism infrastructure that encourages longer stays, greater local purchasing, stronger linkages with Bahamian businesses and increased visitor spending could determine how broadly the benefits of the investment boom are ultimately distributed.

What The Investment Pipeline Could Mean For The Wider Economy

Beyond the headline tourism numbers, the scale of planned investment could have implications for economic activity across multiple sectors. Major hotel, resort and cruise infrastructure projects require construction services, building materials, transportation, professional services and workers during development, while completed properties create ongoing demand for suppliers, hospitality workers and local service providers.

The geographic spread of the projects is also significant. With major developments extending beyond Nassau and Paradise Island into Grand Bahama, Eleuthera, the Exumas and Abaco, the investment pipeline has the potential to distribute tourism-related economic activity across several islands rather than concentrating new development in the country’s traditional tourism center.

For policymakers and investors, however, the key measure will ultimately be the economic value created from that expansion. Continued investment combined with stronger stopover tourism, increased local procurement and greater participation by Bahamian businesses could help turn today’s multibillion-dollar construction and development pipeline into longer-term economic gains.

Read the full Invest Caribbean analysis on what the $3.5 billion Bahamas tourism pipeline means for investors and the wider economy.

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Since When Is The US Department Of War A Foreign Investor? The $85.5 Million Guyana Question

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By NAN Staff Writer, NewsAmericas Now

News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Tues. August 11, 2026: The US Department of War has announced an $85.5 million equity investment – not in an American company, not on American soil, but in a bauxite mine in Guyana. Combined with $64.5 million in private co-investment, the deal totals $150 million in U.S.-backed money flowing to acquire and expand a foreign mining operation, all in the name of national security.

Days later, Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau is on his way to Georgetown. The State Department announced Landau travelled to Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana on August 9th and will be there until August 12, meeting with President Irfaan Ali and his cabinet to discuss “expanding bilateral economic cooperation” and, specifically, “enhancing collaboration in strategic sectors including energy and critical minerals.”

It is Landau’s second high-profile engagement in Guyana in a month, following his appearance at July’s U.S.-Guyana Enabling Investment Forum, where he praised the country’s economic growth and discussed unlocking American investment in agriculture, critical minerals, energy, infrastructure, and housing. It is the same Christopher Landau whose only public response to the MV Barima ferry disaster, which killed at least 73 Guyanese and left dozens more missing, was a single social media post offering condolences.

A familiar pattern

This isn’t an isolated move. The US Department of War has increasingly taken equity stakes in critical minerals projects over the past year, from a $400 million stake in MP Materials’ rare earth operations in California to a 10% equity position in Trilogy Metals’ Alaska claims, all justified as reducing American dependence on Chinese-controlled mineral supply chains. But nearly every other deal in that pattern funds processing and refining capacity on American soil. The Guyana agreement is different: it is U.S. tax payer money used to acquire and expand a mine inside another country’s borders entirely, backed up now by a Deputy Secretary of State flying in personally to see it through.

The question that follows

So here’s the question worth asking plainly: since when is the Department of War in the business of foreign investment? And if $85.5 million in taxpayer money, and a senior State Department official’s travel schedule, can move this quickly to secure a foreign bauxite mine for America’s own defense supply chain, what does that say about the priorities behind it, when American families are skipping groceries and rationing medication because they can’t afford either?

The same government finding tens of millions for a mine in Guyana, and sending its Deputy Secretary of State there twice in one month, has in that same stretch been unable or unwilling to offer Guyana any material help of its own, sending a single condolence message after the MV Barima disaster while France, Trinidad and Brazil sent divers, ships, and Coast Guard vessels. It slapped a 12.5% tariff on Guyana days after courting the country for investment. And separately, American taxpayer dollars are now funding third-country deportation arrangements, paying other nations to accept people the United States doesn’t want, even as those same taxpayers are told there isn’t enough to go around at home.

Whose America First is this?

“America First” was sold as a promise that U.S. resources would be redirected toward Americans first. What the bauxite deal, and Landau’s swift return trip to seal it, reveal is something more specific: U.S. resources and diplomatic attention move fast and decisively when they serve U.S. defense and industrial interests abroad, foreign mines, foreign supply chains, foreign deportation deals, even as the “America First” rhetoric suggests something closer to home should come first. Guyana’s bauxite matters enough to the Pentagon and the State Department to warrant a personal visit within days. Whether Guyana’s own people, or America’s own struggling families, matter as much is a fair question neither government has really answered.

NewsAmericasNow will continue tracking U.S. investment and diplomatic engagement in Guyana.

Guyana July’s Oil Profits Should Be At Least 100 Times The Amount Needed To Salvage MV Barima

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By Darsh Khusial

News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Mon. August. 10, 2026: The Guyana government has stated that it may cost from US$8 to US$10M to salvage MV Barima. That amount is a drop in the ocean compared with the expected oil profits for the rest of the year. In its 2Q2026 call, Exxon stated, “Again, as we mentioned, at this point, we’ve fully recovered the $55 billion of investment along with all the operating costs.” Guyana should therefore start to have ample cash flowing in to raise the MV Barima.

In 2026, using production data see HERE, we can see that, for the first six months, an average of about 27.2 million barrels were produced per month, with an average selling price of US$91.74.

Guyana Oil Production — First 6 Months of 2026MonthTotal Barrels ProducedAvg. Brent Crude Price (US$/bbl)January 202628,375,332$66.60February 202625,697,948$70.89March 202628,345,600$103.13April 202627,083,049$117.29May 202627,719,800$107.14June 202626,080,430$85.40Avg per Month27,217,027$91.74

Given that Exxon stated in its investor call covering the quarter ended June 30 that the investment costs for the projects had been recovered, we can expect Guyana to start receiving profits significantly greater than the meager 12.5% of revenue. We estimate that operating costs are around US$10 per barrel, based on HESS stating that the cash unit cost in 2027 would be US$10/barrel – see the 2Q2023 HESS earnings call transcript. In the table below, we show what Guyana’s expected profit take for July could be, excluding the 2% royalty, for oil prices ranging from US$80 to US$120. The war started at the end of February 2026; we use a range of Brent crude prices that reflects prices after the war started.

As can be observed from the table, even at US$80/barrel, Guyana should receive about US$953 million in profits for July, or about 100 times the estimated cost of salvaging the MV Barima. At US$120/barrel, Guyana should receive about US$9 billion during the second half of 2026, or about 1,000 times the amount needed to salvage the MV Barima.

The Guyanese who perished in the MV Barima will never experience the benefits of the vast sums of money flowing up from the bottom of the ocean. But surely, we can more than afford to lift their bodies from the bottom of the ocean and give their families closure through a proper burial; and provide the injured family members with sufficient emotional and financial support to reduce their inter-generational pain and suffering. The Government must step up and deal compassionately with this national tragedy.

EDITOR’S NOTE: EDITOR’S NOTE: Darsh Khusial is an executive of the Oil and Gas Governance Network (OGGN) Other executive members include Kenrick Hunte, Joe Persaud and Mike Persaud.

RELATED: Lack Of Ring-Fencing May Have Reduced Guyana And Its 2025 Profit-Oil Entitlement By US$4.9 Billion

ExxonMobil Just Posted $14.5 Billion In Profit As Guyana Is Still Burying Its Dead And Protesting In The Streets

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By NAN Business Editor, NewsAmericas Now

News Americas, GEORGETOWN, Guyana, Thurs. Aug. 6, 2026: ExxonMobil announced second-quarter 2026 earnings of $14.5 billion on July 31, more than doubling its profit from a year earlier, as the war-driven closure of the Strait of Hormuz, China’s export halt, and Russian refinery outages compressed global oil supply and pushed margins to what CEO Darren Woods called levels that make Exxon “truly in a league of our own.” Guyana’s Stabroek Block, now producing roughly 900,000 barrels a day, a quarterly record, was central to that result.

ExxonMobil Just Posted $14.5 Billion In Profit As Guyana Is Still Burying Its Dead And Protesting In The Streets

The announcement landed in the same week Guyanese protesters were back in the streets, this time over allegations of conflict of interest involving two members of the Commission of Inquiry investigating the MV Barima disaster, the same investigation the government initially wanted to close by turning the wreck site into a memorial rather than salvaging the vessel families are still waiting to see recovered. “The second quarter was shaped by disruption, but defined by execution,” said Woods, ExxonMobil chairman and chief executive officer. “Markets were supportive, but our performance reflected the strength of the portfolio and operating model we have built over many years. “As conditions changed, we moved products where they were needed, optimized assets, and supported customers, leveraging our global integrated portfolio. We delivered strong earnings and cash flow, continued investing in advantaged opportunities, returned cash to shareholders, and strengthened the balance sheet. Importantly, we remain committed to further growing advantaged production to help meet the world’s need for reliable energy.”

The numbers behind the anger

Exxon does not break out a clean quarterly profit figure for Guyana specifically, but its full-year 2025 disclosures offer a stark comparison: ExxonMobil’s Guyana operations earned $4.67 billion in profit that year, alone representing over 16% of the company’s entire global earnings of $28.8 billion. That $4.67 billion nearly doubled what Guyana’s own government earned from its own oil in the same year, roughly $2.4 to $2.5 billion, despite a profit-sharing arrangement often described publicly as a 50-50 split. The gap exists because Guyana’s government share remains capped at 12.5% until Exxon finishes recovering its development costs under the production-sharing agreement, a threshold the company now expects to cross sometime in the second half of this year.

Meanwhile, Guyana’s own lowest-paid workers, the people building the roads and driving the vehicles funded by that oil wealth, earn a statutory minimum wage of $1.66 an hour, one of the lowest in the entire Caribbean. And separately, an unresolved IHS Markit audit has already identified $214.4 million in Exxon-claimed costs from 1999 to 2017 that auditors determined were either ineligible for cost recovery or lacked adequate documentation, a dispute the IMF has publicly urged Guyana to resolve “in a timely manner.” A second audit remains under review entirely.

A country asking who actually benefits

None of this means Exxon’s Guyana investment hasn’t transformed the country’s economy, it plainly has, fueling the fastest GDP growth on earth and financing highways, bridges, and infrastructure that didn’t exist a decade ago. But the same government riding that windfall couldn’t get a $12.7 million replacement ferry into service for three years, ran the vessel that eventually killed at least 73 people without insurance, and is now facing street protests over whether its own investigation into that disaster can be trusted.

Exxon posted $14.5 billion in three months. Guyana is still identifying bodies, still fighting over who sits on the commission investigating why they died, and still paying its lowest earners $1.66 an hour to build the country that oil money is supposed to be transforming.

NewsAmericasNow will continue tracking both Exxon’s Guyana earnings and the fallout from the MV Barima disaster.

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