Guyana’s Oil Boom Matters More Than Ever

Matthew Smith

Wed, July 29, 2026 at 10:00 AM PDT 5 min read

In a surprise development, the tiny South American nation of Guyana recently emerged as a major oil exporter. In a mere four years, the former British colony of one million went from first discovery to first oil. Guyana has cemented its place among South America's leading oil producers, pumping nearly one million barrels per day, making it the continent's third-largest oil producer. The rapid expansion of Guyana's offshore oil industry will enhance energy security in the Americas at a crucial time, with heightened Middle East tensions sharply impacting global supply.

Official government data shows Guyana lifted 888,000 barrels of crude oil per day at the end of May 2026. This was 4% lower than the 924,000 barrels being extracted at the start of the month. There are four active floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) vessels operating in offshore Guyana, with a fifth, named the Errea Wittu, expected to start up during 2026 when the Uaru project comes online. ExxonMobil's $12.7 billion Uaru project, upon reaching capacity, will add 250,000 barrels per day to Guyana's petroleum output, lifting production over one million barrels daily.

This will allow the former British colony to surpass Venezuela, making it South America's second-largest oil producer behind Brazil. While Caracas has expanded production since January 2026, growth is constrained by the need to rebuild Venezuela's heavily corroded petroleum infrastructure, which will require tens of billions of dollars and at least a decade. Speaking of Venezuela, Washington's decision to intervene in the near-failed state at the start of 2026 removed the most serious threat to Guyana's burgeoning petroleum boom. 

You see, President Nicolas Maduro, for years, threatened to annex the mineral-rich Essequibo, a western region the size of the state of Georgia. This territorial dispute dates to the nineteenth century when Guyana was a British colony. The Essequibo comprises around two-thirds of Guyana's territory. By 2024, Caracas was repeatedly threatening to invade the territory. The disputed region's territorial waters contain the Exxon-operated 6.6-million-acre Stabroek Block, which holds an estimated 11 billion barrels of oil and Guyana's only operational oilfields.

Aside from Uaru, Exxon is developing three additional projects in the Stabroek Block. The first slated for completion is the $12.5 billion Whiptail facility, which is Exxon's sixth project in Guyana. The project is expected to come online in late 2027 with oil lifted from 48 production and injection wells by the Jaguar FPSO. The facility will have a capacity of 250,000 barrels per day. Whiptail will be followed by the $6.8 billion Hammerhead project with a capacity of 150,000 barrels per day from 18 production and injection wells. Hammerhead is slated to commence operation during 2029.