Aug 09, 2026 Editorial, News

(Kaieteur News) – The US$55B that ExxonMobil invested in Guyana’s offshore Stabroek Block is now fully recovered. That long-awaited piece of good news came from two of the company’s highest-level executives. In the strange world of Guyana and its oil, there is a curious state of affairs, only the newest one, in an environment that is rich with oil. Those who own the oil should be ahead of everyone in delighting to this announcement however they are silent to the point of sadness. Where else in the world but Guyana could there be the reactions that should have come before the company and did not? Why not some existence of a pulse felt in Guyana’s oil after ExxonMobil’s second quarter news became public?

ExxonMobil CEO, Darren Woods and Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Neil Hansen, confirmed in their different ways that the US$55B investment in Guyana has now been fully repaid. The investment is liquidated,which should translate to the Cost Bank now standing at zero. Now that the Cost Bank is where it is at, what is there as Cost Recovery? Cost Recovery was killing Guyana, since it is enshrined in the 2016 Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) at 75% straight from the top of oil revenues, minus royalties. All of Guyana should now be celebrating a true half and half profit split. To be clear, celebrating an equal (50:50) division of 100% of oil revenues, and not 25% split into two. That is something to celebrate and anticipate, so, where are Guyana’s most vocal stewards over its oil and gas sector?