Graphic shows oil discoveries and exploration blocks off the coast of Guyana.
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ENERGY

Potential oil riches off coast of Guyana

July 9, 2020 - Guyana, one of South America’s poorest countries could become one of the world’s richest since ExxonMobil discovered oil reserves potentially worth more than $100 billion.

The oilfield that ExxonMobil discovered five years ago is about 200km (125 miles) off the coast of Guyana, a country of 780,000 people located in the northeastern corner of South America.

The oil is of the highly coveted light sweet crude variety, and it is easily accessible. Some say that by the middle of this decade, Guyana could already be pumping more oil out of the earth per capita than even Kuwait.

For the current year, the government in Georgetown issued a pre-coronavirus forecast of oil revenues in the neighbourhood of $300 million. The U.S. ambassador to the country said that Guyana could become the “richest country in the hemisphere and potentially the richest country in the world.”

Sources
PUBLISHED: 09/07/2020; STORY: Graphic News
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