With higher prices, Guyana could get larger share of profits sooner – Routledge 

ExxonMobil could recover its historic investments in Guyana sooner as production grows and oil prices rise, potentially paving the way for the South American nation to receive a larger share of the profits by the end of 2026. 

This is according to President of ExxonMobil Guyana, Alistair Routledge, who spoke at a press conference at the company’s Ogle headquarters on Thursday. 

“While we’ve been generally running down that historical bank of costs at a reasonably steady and predictable pace, we were anticipating sometime next year, in 2027, that we were going to get to a point where we would have recovered those costs.

“… What we’re now seeing in this price environment is that it will accelerate. We don’t forecast oil prices, but if you stay at the current oil price, then it will happen this year, based on the level of expenditures and the production that we anticipate,” Routledge told reporters. 

Oil prices have soared in recent weeks owing to the conflict in the Middle East. 

ExxonMobil has been producing oil in Guyana’s giant Stabroek Block since December 2019. There are four current projects, producing more than 900,000 barrels of oil daily, and plans are afoot to initiate at least three others this decade. 

Through its agreement with the Government of Guyana, ExxonMobil has been recovering the investments made. It has committed about US$60 billion, but not all of that has been spent yet. 

Routledge said the company has about US$5 billion in historic costs to recover. 

As per Guyana’s 2016 oil contract, up to 75% of the costs (or money invested) can be recovered or recouped as the oil produced is sold. The remaining 25% of revenues is split equally between the coventurers (ExxonMobil, Hess and CNOOC) and Guyana; the government also gets an additional two per cent in royalties from total revenues.

With costs recovered, it is expected that Guyana will get a larger share of the profit — beyond the 14.5% (12.5% profits and 2% royalties) received now. 

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