Guyana’s offshore Stabroek Block has revealed about 11 billion barrels of recoverable oil.
This discovery has turned the once-poor country into one of South America’s top three oil producers in less than a single decade.
Exxon and its partners moved quickly by bringing several FPSOs into operation. Output reached 900,000 barrels per day in 2025, with a target of 1.7 million barrels per day by 2030.
The first production-sharing deal was very generous to Exxon. Because of this, Guyana later changed the rules for new contracts so the country could collect more royalties, taxes, and profit shares.
Guyana, once among South America’s poorest nations, has suddenly become one of its richest due to these discoveries. The key area is the 6.6-million-acre Stabroek Block. ExxonMobil operates it with a 45 percent share. Chevron holds 30 percent, and CNOOC holds 25 percent. Exxon’s first find came in 2015, followed by many more. These finds added up to about 11 billion barrels of recoverable oil.
The oil is light and sweet, with an API gravity of 31.9 degrees and 0.59 percent sulfur. This makes it attractive in a world trying to limit emissions.
Guyana reached first production only four years after the first discovery. Offshore developments normally take seven to ten years. In nearby Suriname, for example, TotalEnergies’ GranMorgu project will not start operating until 2028, even though it was discovered in 2020.
The Stabroek Block continues to grow fast. By August 2025, Exxon brought its fourth project, Yellowtail, into production. The ONE GUYANA FPSO, which can produce 250,000 barrels per day, is now running at full capacity. In November 2025, Guyana’s total output from Stabroek reached 900,000 barrels per day. This made it the third-largest oil producer in South America, behind Brazil and Venezuela.
In only ten years, Guyana went from no oil production to nearly one million barrels per day. It passed Ecuador, Colombia, and Argentina. Production will keep rising. Exxon is developing four more projects with a combined capacity of 940,000 barrels per day. This will lift total production to 1.7 million barrels per day by 2030, which would make Guyana the region’s second-largest producer.
Chevron has said the block may hold more oil than the current 11-billion-barrel estimate. Exxon is also still drilling. In June 2025, it began drilling the Hamlet-1 prospect in the southeast. It also started the Lukanani-2 appraisal well to study a 2022 discovery.
The Exxon-led group received highly favorable terms from Guyana in its original production sharing agreement. The royalty rate was only two percent, applied only to “cost oil.” Seventy-five percent of all oil was also classified as cost oil. Revenue from that portion went back to the companies. Only the remaining 25 percent was treated as profit oil, and that was split evenly with the government.
Guyana had reasons for agreeing to such generous terms. Before the Liza-1 discovery, more than sixty years of drilling had failed to find commercial oil offshore. Even though experts believed the basin could contain more than 30 billion barrels, the risk still seemed high. The generous PSA encouraged companies to drill anyway.
After international criticism of the deal, Guyana changed its future contract model. Cost oil was capped at 65 percent. Royalty rates were raised to 10 percent, and a 10 percent corporate tax was added. No future deal will match the terms of the Stabroek Block. That block remains highly profitable, with an average breakeven cost of about $30 per barrel, one of the lowest in the region.
Local News
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