Investments in Guyana’s oil could top US$60B this decade

Guyana has become an oil exploration hotspot with several commercial oil finds over the past few years and it is projected that the country would rake in more than US$60 billion (or more than GY $12.5 trillion) in investments this decade.

This is according to the Latin America Analyst at Rystad Energy, Sofia Forestieri, who spoke at the Guyana International Petroleum Business Summit & Exhibition (GIPEX) on Tuesday.

These investments are expected to be made, broadly, in further exploration activities and oil field development. For exploration, further drilling activity is expected in several of Guyana’s oil blocks.

Field development is expected to encompass the forthcoming gas-to-energy project, logistics development and other projects.

“When you compare Guyana to other major players in Latin America we see the country is the fourth largest in terms of investments,” Forestieri said.

Brazil is expected to attract the largest share of investments in the region; those investments are pegged at some US$187.4 billion. And this is followed by Mexico (US$135 billion), Argentina (US$77.2 billion) and then Guyana (US$64.7 billion).

The analyst explained that a majority of the investments in Guyana will be made in greenfield developments. This refers to completely new development in an area.

And the largest share of the investments is expected to come from ExxonMobil.

The analyst noted that the level of investment this decade is particularly noteworthy given that Guyana’s first discovery was in 2015 and the first development project was sanctioned in 2017. First oil was in 2019.

“… this is a very important thing for Guyana because it shows the attractiveness of the country and how promising the country is,” Forestieri said.