JENNIFER Elliott, the Geoscience Manager at ExxonMobil Guyana, has underscored the pivotal role that women are poised to assume in addressing the expected 50,000 employment opportunities within the oil and gas industry of Guyana.
The speaker, who addressed a recent episode of the Energy Perspectives Podcast, placed strong emphasis on the necessity of diversity and inclusivity within the future workforce of the oil and gas sector.
As the global energy giant expands its operations in Guyana, where the company has made significant oil discoveries since 2015, Elliot predicts the creation of thousands of jobs.
“This will create a lot of jobs in the future. Up to 50,000 more jobs in the country. If you look at our [ExxonMobil] Guyana landscape, 1,400 women work offshore right now. Everything from cooks to technicians. Remember when I started, I was the only woman on the rig… that’s not the case anymore. So, there are definitely opportunities for everyone,” she explained.

She emphasised that ExxonMobil is committed to fostering gender diversity.
Throughout history, women have faced several obstacles in the oil and gas sector, including discrimination based on gender and a dearth of female leadership positions.
But as businesses such as ExxonMobil realise how critical diversity is to spur innovation and attaining long-term prosperity, the tide is beginning to change.
“We are so pleased of our gender diversity. Fifty-two per cent of our Guyanese employees are women. That is actually better than our corporate average, which is at 34 per cent. So, to have more than 52 per cent which is very close to what the Guyana female population is … is truly representative. We are exceptionally pleased to have our women in all stages of the business. Whether it’s in engineering, commercial, public and government affairs or even on our site working the gas-to-energy pipeline. With that, there is plenty of space for women in Guyana and we are happy to promote them in our workforce,” Elliott stated proudly.

The geoscientist added that the company has launched initiatives to address gender parity.
Elliott explained; “A lot of our initiatives at ExxonMobil Guyana reflect what we do, corporate [sic] to keep women in the workforce. We start 50-50 oftentimes, especially in the sciences. Unfortunately, we clearly have what I call leaky pipeline because once you get to those senior executive positions, you don’t see women, because they have fallen out of the workforce for various reasons. We know one of those reasons is child-bearing years.
“We know women leave and they don’t always come back. Or they come back for a while and then as more children come, they decide to transition to home which is absolutely commendable. But we also know for some of them, they want to come back.”
She also described the steps the company has taken to guarantee the inclusion of women, such as salary benchmarking and mentoring programmes.

“We have our women networking group where we have cross-mentoring with them. We have focused discussions with them, we have male role models come in.  Additionally, within Guyana, we have special leadership with Guyanese nationals mentoring to help onboard them into what a corporate role looks like within Guyana. And you’ll have an experienced expat paired up with a [Guyanese] national and we take special focus on those women as part of that.”
She noted that this is the first time the firm has three women in leadership positions, all of whom work in the STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, and math).
For women considering a career in the oil and gas industry, Elliott has urged them to step forward and take their place, as the opportunities are vast.

With the right support, she pointed out that women will lead the way in filling these future roles, driving the industry forward into a new era of diversity and innovation.
ExxonMobil Guyana is the operator of the offshore 6.6 million-acre Stabroek Block. Along with its partners Hess Guyana Exploration and CNOOC Petroleum Guyana, a consortium was formed to find and exploit petroleum from the area.
The prolific Stabroek Block has solidified Guyana’s position as a major player in the global oil industry and as the fastest-growing economy in the world.
ExxonMobil Guyana holds a 45 per cent stake, followed by Hess Guyana Exploration with 30 per cent and CNOOC Nexen Petroleum Guyana with 25 per cent.
Since the first discovery in 2015, the company has three projects—Liza 1, Liza 2 and Payara—producing over 600,000 barrels a day.

ExxonMobil has three other development projects in the Stabroek Block—Yellowtail, Uaru and Whiptail—set to begin production in 2025, 2026, and 2027, respectively.
Each project is estimated to generate 250,000 barrels per day, bringing the total offshore oil output in Guyana to more than 1.3 million barrels per day.
At the end of 2023, ExxonMobil, had made $614.6 billion in profits.

And that profit occurred at a time when the company’s annual revenue was $1.1 trillion and its overall operating expenses were estimated to be $356.1 billion.
ExxonMobil has consistently stated that the Stabroek Block will be remembered as one of the greatest deep-water projects in the industry’s history.