In a landmark announcement delivered at a press briefing on Tuesday, Guyanese President Irfaan Ali confirmed that ExxonMobil and its joint development partners have fully recouped nearly $40 billion in exploration and operational costs, clearing the way for the South American nation to dramatically increase its share of crude oil output from the Stabroek Block project.
President Ali emphasized that the updated barrel allocation framework aligns fully with the terms of the original 2016 Production Sharing Agreement struck between the Guyanese government and the ExxonMobil-led consortium, which includes China National Offshore Oil Corporation and U.S. energy major Chevron. Under the original structure, 75% of every 100 barrels produced was reserved for cost recovery for the energy partners. With the remaining $5 billion in outstanding costs now fully cleared, that cost-recovery allocation has dropped sharply to just 20 barrels per 100 produced.
The new allocation model leaves 80 barrels of every 100 to be split equally between Guyana and the consortium. Under the revised terms, Guyana will receive 39.8 barrels per 100 produced, with the same 39.8 barrels distributed across ExxonMobil and its co-venturers. This marks a transformative shift in revenue flow for the small Caribbean nation, which has seen its economic fortunes transformed by major offshore oil discoveries over the past decade.
Earlier this year, ExxonMobil’s Guyana subsidiary announced that it had accelerated its cost recovery timeline, a shift driven by the recent sharp spike in global crude oil prices. Geopolitical tensions between the United States and Iran have sent benchmark oil prices soaring from roughly $45 per barrel to over $100 per barrel in recent months, boosting revenue for the consortium and allowing it to recoup expenses far faster than initially projected.
Beyond the revised revenue split, President Ali also outlined updated production targets for the Stabroek Block. The project currently produces between 900,000 and 920,000 barrels of oil per day, and Ali confirmed that output is on track to hit 1 million barrels per day by the fourth quarter of 2026. That milestone will be reached following the arrival of the project’s fifth Floating Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel, which is set to depart Singapore for Guyana later this month.