When will it ever be?

Editorial…

(Kaieteur News) – First, they were two for a start, with more coming.  In short order, came numbers three and four, and those also are now history.  How much more, when will that slippery something be?  So, now there is the news, that citizens of this oil rich country were waiting for.  The welcome news that seven oil projects have been paid off.

We repeat that so the news sinks in: all the costs associated with seven oil projects have been fully repaid.  Almost automatically, some questions surface.  When will this country begin to collect its rightful, now pending, half share of oil profits?  A pure and genuine 50% of the profits, since that contract provision of 75% in cost recovery right off the top of oil revenues has now shrunk to less than 10% of what was invested by ExxonMobil.  Will Guyana start to collect that half profit share this year, a real half?  Will Guyana start to get that 50% of profits, undisputed profits before this year ends?  Will it ever be?  If not now, then when?

Seven oil projects financed by ExxonMobil for a total of US$55B have US$4.5B left due at the end of 2025.  Developments in the Middle East have led to oil prices averaging around US$80 a barrel.  Link that average price to Guyana’s daily oil production of 900,000 barrels a day, and that residual US$4.5B in upfront investment costs incurred by Exxon is wiped out.  In other words, the last US$4.5B, the amount left, is now gone, swallowed up, and done.  We do the math.  From January 1, 2026 to June 20, 2026, represents a total of 172 production days.  Guyana now enjoys an average daily production rate of 900,000 barrels.  That amounts to a total production of 154.8 million barrels of oil produced and shipped up to June 20, 2026.  Last, 154.8 million barrels at an average price of US$80 a barrel totals US$12.3B.  The reminder due to the ExxonMobil consortium of US$4.5B is cleared.

We at this publication make the case that the time is now, right now, for Guyana to start collecting its full half (50%) profit share.  A 50% profit share that is fair and free of any tricks.  There can be no ifs, ands, or buts about this.

The Guyana government should see to this, demand this now.  If the government balks, starts talking in riddles, begins to go around in circles, then it is the duty of every citizen in this country to standup, speak out, and apply all the pressure that they can.  All the pressure that they are capable of gathering in their hands to get their leaders to move for that fair half share of profits.  All the pressure that can be applied on ExxonMobil, so that Guyanese get what is rightfully and honestly due.  We have paid back (should have) every dollar of the company’s US$55B investment.  We have felt the squeezes that came from 75% of this country’s oil revenues being taken out before a dollar of profit reached Guyana’s hands.  We bore the sacrifices that were related to that massive 75% cost recovery contract provision.  Therefore, the time has come, and the time is now, for Guyana to get its fair and full half share of profits.

It should be noted that we keep mentioning ‘fair and full’ half share of profits.  We explain what that means.  Whatever profits ExxonMobil, Hess Corporation Guyana (Chevron) and CNOOC report from their operations/production in Guyana’s Stabroek Block, Guyana must collect the same.  If they all collect a dollar, or a billion, Guyana must get the exact same dollar amount.

There should not be any quibbling or wriggling over this.  What is there to quibble about, wriggle out of by ExxonMobil and its offshore partners?  What is there for the PPP/C Government to quibble about, or dance around, when ExxonMobil’s US$55B investment has been fully repaid?  Because Guyana’s governments have represented this country and its citizens so poorly, we find it necessary to put these scenarios before the public.  We do our duty.  The Guyana Government must do its duty, see to it that a true 50%, a real half-and-half, profit is collected from now by this country.