Is ExxonMobil Working At A $6 Billion Or $3.4 Billion “Loss” In Guyana?

Evaluation By NAN Enterprise Editor

Information Americas, Georgetown, Guyana, Tues. Oct. 14, 2025: ExxonMobil’s Guyana President, Alistair Routledge on Monday claimed the corporate is “nonetheless working within the purple to the tune of round US$6 billion” in Guyana, as he retorted over to a query by three U.S. senators on the corporate’s tax breaks. So which quantity is nearer to actuality: $6 billion or $3.4 billion in losses?

What Routledge Mentioned

Talking at Exxon’s Ogle, East Coast Demerara headquarters, Routledge instructed reporters that the NGO Oil and Gasoline Governance Community, (OGGN) might have misled U.S. senators in regards to the firm’s tax filings. He mentioned that ExxonMobil Guyana continues to be working with a unfavorable money circulate of round six billion US {dollars}.

“We proceed to be really money circulate unfavorable on an accumulative foundation… we’re in all probability nonetheless round six billion US {dollars} in unfavorable money circulate as we take a look at the cumulative expenditures and cumulative revenues that we’ve seen from the Stabroek Block,” he instructed reporters.

Routledge asserted that in ExxonMobil Company’s 2023 and 2024 tax filings, there have been no Guyanese tax credit included in both of these filings, “and you’d recall that previous to 2023, we weren’t making earnings right here in Guyana, so there have been no tax credit from that. Up till this level, there have been no Guyana tax credit utilized by ExxonMobil.”

The Various Determine: $3.4 Billion

However Exxon’s personal Guyana web site identifies a distinct determine: US$3.4 billion in purple ink — even whereas acknowledging an accounting revenue in 2024. In keeping with Exxon’s 2024 financials:

• Gross manufacturing rose sharply with the Prosperity FPSO, boosting income for all companions
• Regardless of posting an accounting revenue, the corporate mentioned it stays “within the purple” by US$3.4 billion
• Exxon and its co-venturers have invested a cumulative US$55 billion in Guyana to this point. This divergence begs the query: how can an organization be each worthwhile on paper and but declare to be billions in losses?

The Contractual Context

Below the 2016 Manufacturing Sharing Settlement (PSA), Exxon’s Guyana deal permits it to get better as much as 75% of its share of oil income for price restoration earlier than revenue funds start. In observe, this implies a big portion of early income goes to recovering the developer’s costs- capital, exploration, infrastructure – leaving little web revenue early on.

Moreover, financials for 2024 present:

• Working expenditures of GYD 477.6 billion
• Depreciation/amortization at GYD 301.8 billion
• Exploration, manufacturing, royalties additionally eat into margins

These mechanics assist clarify how Exxon may legitimately declare unfavorable money circulate regardless of robust revenues.

Why It Issues for Guyana

The optics of a $6B loss vs $3.4B issues deeply for public belief, fiscal coverage, and future licensing. Guyana has collected over US$6.2 billion in oil earnings and royalties since 2020 – so when Exxon claims it’s within the purple, critics say the narrative raises issues about transparency and equity. If Exxon can delay or cut back revenue sharing via price restoration claims, that adjustments the magnitude and timing of what Guyana as a associate really realizes.

Backside Line

• Each $6 billion and $3.4 billion claims may include grains of reality, relying on accounting strategies, timing, amortization and restoration insurance policies.
• Routledge emphasised money circulate negativity and absence of Guyanese tax credit in filings.
• Exxon’s public knowledge insists on a decrease loss determine regardless of earnings.
• The discrepancy boils right down to methodology, timing, and value restoration mechanics.

So, whereas the $6B determine instructions headlines, the $3.4B estimate rooted in Exxon’s personal reporting asks the place did the just about three further billion come from?. It’s actually a query of how loss and revenue are actually outlined.