Guyana’s President Irfaan Ali claimed victory Thursday in the country’s September 1 presidential and parliamentary elections, the BBC reported, even as vote-counting continues.
Ali, who took office in 2020 and will have another five-year term, had campaigned on his management of soaring oil production from the offshore Stabroek block, pledging to use the vast offshore oil reserves to improve infrastructure and reduce poverty.
The Exxon Mobil-led (NYSE:XOM) consortium that includes Chevron (CVX) and China’s state-owned Cnooc (OTCPK:CEOHF) has lifted Guyana’s crude output from a mere 1,200 bbl/day in the first year of production in 2019 to the current 650K bbl/day, with the commissioning of a fourth project in September poised to boost crude production capacity to 940K bbl/day.
Exxon (NYSE:XOM) has forecast a doubling of crude production by 2027 from future projects on the Stabroek block that has an estimated 11B barrels of reserves.
Guyana has one of the highest levels of proven crude oil reserves per capita in the worl and is one of the region’s fastest-growing economies.