The following is the full statement that was released by the Ministry of Natural Resources on Sunday:

“The Ministry of Natural Resources notes with concern a Kaieteur News article, headlined ‘Jagdeo skirts question on Guyana’s 50% profit share with Exxon’ (June 17, 2025).

The article is based on questions posed to Vice-President Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo, at his June 5, 2025, press conference by a Kaieteur News reporter, pertaining to Guyana’s 2024 oil revenues in comparison to the reported profits of ExxonMobil and its Stabroek Block co-venturers, Hess and CNOOC.

The reporter asked, “Can you explain Exxon and its partners reporting that their profits for 2024 being $10 billion, but Guyana only got $2.6 billion despite being a 50-50 profit-sharing?”

This question reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of the issue.
‘Profit oil’, as per the Stabroek Block Production Sharing Agreement (PSA), is the portion of annual production shared between Guyana and the Stabroek Block companies after they take out 75% to recover their expenses. ‘Profit’, as reported by a company under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), is the amount that remains after it subtracts expenses from revenue for a given period.

The US$10 billion cited by the reporter represents the combined profit of ExxonMobil, Hess, and CNOOC, as reported under IFRS in their respective financial statements.

Guyana’s share of profit oil aligns with the companies’ profit oil. However, Guyana’s revenue from the sale of its profit oil is not supposed to align with the Stabroek Block companies’ IFRS profits.

For the sake of clarity:
Guyana’s profit oil = Oil companies’ profit oil
Guyana’s profit oil ≠ Oil companies’ IFRS profits

The only commonality between ‘profit oil’ and ‘IFRS profit’ is that the two terms include the word ‘profit’, but they are separate concepts from different accounting systems. It is also crucial to note that the recovery of 75 per cent of annual production, called ‘cost oil’, is a
feature of the Stabroek Block PSA and is not accounted for in the financial statements of the oil companies.

The values of the companies’ ‘cost oil’ and ‘profit oil’ are lumped
together to determine their revenue and subsequent profit calculation, which explains why their reported IFRS revenue and profit are significantly higher than Guyana’s oil revenues in the same period. Guyana does not invest money into the Stabroek Block developments and, therefore, has no ‘cost oil’ to receive.

Importantly, IFRS statements are compiled in accordance with a set of rules and assumptions that make it problematic to compare the numbers therein with those derived from the Stabroek Block PSA’s fiscal terms.

Guyana is, in fact, receiving the correct amounts of profit oil and royalty revenue as stipulated under the Stabroek Block PSA. The Government continues to scrutinise and ensure compliance with the agreement and to safeguard the interests of the Guyanese people.

Vigilance in oversight remains a cornerstone of the Government’s commitment to ensuring the country benefits meaningfully and transparently from its petroleum resources.

The lack of understanding by Kaieteur News is causing this issue to rear its head every year after the Stabroek Block co-venturers post their financial statements.

Kaieteur News needs to get its act together and ensure its reporters understand concepts before venturing to report on them.

Even more concerning was the reporter’s follow-up question to the Vice-President, asking him to explain “what the formula is” for determining Guyana’s share from oil production.

The reporter said, “You’ve spoken a lot of times before about this formula… Can you give us, like, an idea of what the formula is?”

When asked to indicate which formula she was referring to, the reporter said, “With the profits for Exxon and Guyana.”

This is not only disappointing, but also absurd. The so-called “formula” is a basic feature of the PSA, which has been publicly available for years and has been covered extensively by Kaieteur News itself. Its reporters have attended numerous backgrounders with ExxonMobil, where the same questions are asked over and over again. That a reporter
from that very newspaper appears unfamiliar with the central mechanism governing Guyana’s share of oil production is nothing short of alarming.

To clarify what Kaieteur News should already know: under the current Stabroek Block PSA, the oil companies are entitled to recover up to 75 per cent of production annually as cost oil, allowing them to recoup the billions of dollars invested in exploration and development. The remaining 25 per cent of crude is categorised as profit oil, which is then split equally between the Government of Guyana and the consortium.

This results in the Government receiving 12.5 per cent of total crude production as profit oil. In addition, the government receives a 2 per cent royalty on the total value of oil produced and sold. In effect,
Guyana receives approximately 14.5 per cent of the total value of production each year.

This line of questioning from Kaieteur News raises serious questions about the quality of the newspaper’s reporting on the oil and gas sector.

While the publication has styled itself as the sector’s harshest critic, it increasingly engages in speculative commentary and misinformation rather than rigorous, fact-based journalism. Its publisher, known
for making frequent, inflammatory, and often baseless claims, has presided over what has become a revolving door for oil and gas reporters. Several capable journalists have departed the paper, citing frustration with how coverage of the sector is being handled.

This has left Kaieteur News with a constantly changing group of inexperienced reporters who are thrust into complex technical territory without the necessary background.

These reporters then approach press conferences unprepared, ask misguided questions, and mislead the public with coverage that lacks substance and clarity.

The Guyanese people are the ones who suffer from this lack of journalistic responsibility.

The Ministry of Natural Resources remains committed to transparency and public engagement.

We encourage all media practitioners to approach their role in this critical sector with the seriousness it demands. The oil and gas industry is too important to be obscured by misguided opinions, confusion and sensationalism.