Guyana’s ‘endless’ oil potential

In 2015, ExxonMobil announced the discovery of oil beneath Guyana’s coastal waters. Since then, the US oil giant and its partners have uncovered 11 billion barrels of crude. The scale of this find is remarkable, particularly in a country with a gross domestic product just a fraction of Exxon’s annual profits.

This oil windfall has paved the way for several large-scale infrastructure projects, including an extensive roadbuilding initiative, the construction of six new hospitals, numerous schools, a deep-water port, and a billion-dollar natural gas pipeline aimed at providing affordable energy across the country. Prominent Exxon-branded billboards around the capital encourage Guyanese citizens to “imagine what’s possible.”

Once overlooked on the global stage, Guyana—once a center of anti-colonial resistance against British rule in the 1950s—has attracted significant international attention following its recent oil discoveries.