Guyana is in talks with Middle Eastern state oil companies to take part in oil and gas exploration. Saudi Arabia and Qatar were among the attendees of the event. The report also said, quoting the Guyanese official, that depending on how the talks end, Guyana may bar Exxon and Hess from participating in an oil and gas tender currently in the works. Guyana also wants the new blocks to be tendered to be developed as quickly as Exxon and Hess are developing their successful strikes in the Stabroek Block. If the supermajor offers the same speed of development, the Guyanese government may reconsider its plans for barring it from the tender.
Exxon and its partner in Guyana Hess Corp. are the only companies producing oil in the tiny South American nation. Since the start of exploration work there, the two have made as many as 28 significant discoveries, unlocking reserves of some 10 billion barrels of crude. Guyana is a net importer of fuel. Guyana’s offshore Guyana Basin and the inland Takatu Basin have attracted foreign companies such as Shell, Total and Mobil since the 1940s, who completed much geological surveyance of the area and drilled several wells.[4] In the Takatu Basin, 3 wells were dug between 1981 and 1993, however they were dry or not found to be commercially viable. Offshore oil exploration began in the 1950’s, and 9 wells were drilled between 1965 and 1970, only one of which struck oil, Abary-1 well in the Kanuku license area. In the late 1980’s, Mobil, Total, Guyana Exploration and BHP continued exploration in the region. In the mid-2000s, CGX Energy attempted to spud a well, but the rig was deterred by Surinamese gunboats claiming they were in Surinamese waters. United Nations International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) settled the border dispute in September 2007, but no further wells were dug until 2012. As of 2020, Guyana has nine petroleum blocks under active leases, of which six have had active exploration.[5] The Petroleum Division of the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission has the responsibility of monitoring exploration in Guyana.