TotalEnergies leads consortium that signs Guyana oil exploration deal

A consortium led by French oil and gas company TotalEnergies SE signed a five-year agreement worth USD35 million with Guyana on Tuesday for exploration in an offshore oil block, the parties said.

Guyana, a small English-speaking country neighbouring Venezuela, holds the largest known oil reserves per capita in the world.

It currently produces about 900,000 barrels of crude per day – a figure it hopes to double in the coming years.

Tuesday's agreement is between the government and a consortium consisting of TotalEnergies with a 40% stake, QatarEnergy with 35% and Malaysia's Petroliam Nasional Berhad, known as Petronas, with 25%.

The consortium will contribute USD15 million directly to Guyana's sovereign wealth fund, said Natural Resources Minister Vickram Bharrat.

Another USD20 million will be spent on the exploration itself.

The concession is located some 50-100 kilometres off the coast of Demerara County – east of the Essequibo region to which Venezuela lays claim in a years-long dispute with Guyana that has become more heated since large crude deposits were discovered there 10 years ago.