Guyana – the richest corner of South America?

ExxonMobil’s exploration success in the last few years has established the Guyana basin as one of the world’s offshore exploration hotspots – no other area has delivered as much conventional oil resource since 2015. And it shows little sign of slowing down, with the ExxonMobil-led consortium making its 8th discovery and fast-tracking a multi-billion barrel development. Eager for a piece of the action, the rest of the industry's top players have picked up acreage across the basin and along the wider Equatorial Margin. The untapped potential is material, attracting the biggest companies. But this is high risk exploration, and there are development challenges that range from building the required infrastructure to ensuring good natural resource governance.