Govt creating environment for local investment in crude marketing – VP Jagdeo

…says Guyana moving toward premium pricing, stronger private sector role

Vice President (VP) Dr Bharrat Jagdeo has announced that the Government is working to create the right environment for local investors to participate directly in the marketing and trading of Guyana’s crude oil–an important step toward capturing premium prices and developing home-grown expertise in the global petroleum market. Speaking at his weekly press conference on Thursday last, the VP said the administration’s approach is not for the state to control every aspect of the sector but to build an “enabling regime” that empowers Guyanese businesses to invest and thrive. “The Government cannot do all of these things,” Jagdeo said. “What the Government is doing is creating an enabling regime for these things to happen. Through skill training and targeted infrastructure investment, we can encourage the private sector to invest in areas that will generate sustainable income for the future.” He explained that the Government’s broader goal is to diversify the economy and create new “growth poles” that will sustain jobs and revenues beyond oil and gas. Jagdeo said the administration wants to ensure Guyana does not become overly dependent on oil but instead leverages it to build modern industries–from data centres and financial services to crude marketing and digital infrastructure. Citing President Irfaan Ali’s recent remarks about attracting investment in data centres, Jagdeo said that initiative reflects a growing global competition among energy-rich nations to host major digital infrastructure. “We don’t want to be excluded,” he emphasised, “Energy-rich countries are positioning themselves for significant advantages in the digital world, and Guyana should be part of that transformation. The private sector has to run with these ideas–and the Government stands ready to support them.”

Institutional capacity
Turning specifically to the oil sector, the VP noted that Guyana currently markets its crude through public tenders, allowing pre-qualified international companies to bid for one-year contracts to trade the country’s entitlement barrels. The process, he stressed, has been fully transparent and has protected the country from scandal or favouritism.
“We’ve operated this way for five years,” Jagdeo said. “It’s transparent–whoever gives you the best price and meets the standards, that’s the one you take. But we may be able to get a premium if we trade our own crude.” The VP revealed that Guyana is now taking the first steps toward developing the technical and institutional capacity needed to eventually market its own crude. This would allow the country to capture higher prices on the international market, similar to how major national oil companies in the Middle East and Asia manage their exports. However, he cautioned that crude trading is a complex business requiring deep market knowledge, analytical skills, and global experience. “It’s not going to happen tomorrow because we don’t have that capacity yet,” he said. “But the private sector itself may be able to develop that capacity and sell technical expertise and services to the Government in this regard.”
Jagdeo underscored that the administration’s role is to enable – not replace – the private sector. “In Guyana, every time the Government speaks, people think it means the Government is investing directly,” he said. “But Government also has a role as an enabler of investment, and that’s what we’ve been pushing.” The initiative to build local capacity for crude marketing comes as Guyana’s oil output continues to climb, with three producing offshore projects and a fourth set to come online in 2025. Developing local expertise in the commercial side of the industry, Jagdeo noted, will ensure that Guyanese professionals and companies share in the value chain beyond production.
He said the move represents another key step in the Government’s broader economic transformation strategy–one that balances fiscal prudence, national ownership, and private sector dynamism. “We’re building a future where Guyana not only produces oil,” Jagdeo said, “but understands the market, manages it wisely, and benefits fully from every barrel.”

Oil sector
Based on the Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) for the oil-rich Stabroek Block, Guyana receives a 50 per cent share of the profit oil from offshore operations. Since production started in December 2019 with United States (US) oil giant ExxonMobil as the operator, the country has been hiring international companies via a competitive bidding process to market its share of crude. Last October, British firms BB Energy Trading Limited and JE Energy were contracted to market crude oil from the Liza Destiny, Unity, and Prosperity Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessels for a 12-month period starting in 2024. These two companies, which had previously marketed Guyana’s crude from the 2023-2024 period, were selected from among 27 bids submitted. The bidding process was divided into several lots: Lot 1 – Liza Destiny FPSO Vessel, Lot 2 – Liza Unity FPSO Vessel, Lot 3 – Payara Prosperity FPSO Vessel, Lot 4 – Any two (2) Lots combined, Lot 5 – Combined Lots One, Two and Three. At the time of the award of the contract, the Natural Resources Ministry had highlighted that the Government secured a US$1.85 premium per barrel for the sale of its crude oil, a 93 per cent increase from the previous year. “The combined premium per barrel to be received by the Government of Guyana from these two companies for the crudes from these three FPSOs amounts to US$1.85, reflecting a substantial 93 per cent increase compared to the US$0.96 premium secured in the previous period (2023-2024),” the Ministry had said. For 2025, Guyana is entitled to 31 of the 246 lifts of profit oil from the Stabroek Block.
Back in July, it was reported that Guyana received payments for 13 of its 31 lifts during the first half of this year. In fact, Guyana has earned just over US$1.05 billion from crude oil sales so far this year. This, combined with royalty payments, has seen the country’s total oil revenues earned in the first half of 2025 reach some US$1.22 billion or G$255 billion – monies that are being held in the Natural Resource Fund (NRF) at the New York Federal Reserve Bank, where it is earning interest. The Government is projected to earn an estimated US$2.2 billion in profit oil and US$340.6 million in royalties for 2025.

Exxon projects in Guyana
Exxon, through its local subsidiary Esso Exploration Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL), is the operator of the Stabroek Block and holds a 45 per cent interest in the block. Hess Guyana Exploration Ltd holds 30 per cent interest, and China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) Petroleum Guyana Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of CNOOC Limited, holds the remaining 25 per cent interest. The Liza Phases One and Two and Payara Projects, all of which combined are producing over 600,000 barrels of oil per day, account for the three FPSO vessels operating in Guyana’s Stabroek Block in waters offshore. Just last month, however, Exxon started up its fourth FPSO, the One Guyana vessel from the Yellowtail Project. With these four FPSOs, the company anticipates growing production to more than 900,000 barrels of oil per day by the end of this year.
Meanwhile, Exxon has already received approvals for, and is advancing preparatory works on, its fifth and sixth projects, Uaru and Whiptail. Uaru is anticipated to start production in 2026, and Whiptail is anticipated to start up in 2027, taking Guyana’s production to over 1.2 million barrels of oil per day by 2027. In addition to at least these six projects offshore Guyana, Exxon is also eyeing the possibility of having 10 FPSOs being operational by 2030. Only last week, the Guyana Government approved US oil major’s seventh development in Guyana’s waters – the Hammerhead Project, which is targeting a 2029 start-up with an FPSO vessel that will produce approximately 150,000 barrels of oil per day.