The Ministry of Natural Resources clarified that Guyana’s share of oil profits has never been 39.8 per cent. It has been 50 per cent since 2016 under the Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) and remains 50 per cent today.
In a letter to the editor responding to a 21 August article, the ministry said the 39.8 per cent figure measures Guyana’s share of every barrel produced, before costs are deducted; not its share of profit.
Of every 100 barrels produced, about 20 go to oil companies to recover exploration and development costs, leaving 80 as profit. Guyana’s 50 per cent share of that 80 is where 39.8 comes from.
“That is the entire calculation. No minister decides it. It comes straight out of the agreement signed in 2016, and anyone with a calculator can check it in seconds,” the ministry’s letter stated.
In the letter, the ministry also addressed audit figures raised in the original article, including US$214 million, US$65 million, and US$19.6 billion under review, describing them as good news rather than evidence of loss.
Any cost an audit strikes out shifts from “cost oil” to “profit oil,” which is then split 50-50 in Guyana’s favour. Of the two audit matters already settled, totalling US$279.5 million, a full disallowance would have added roughly US$140 million to Guyana’s earnings, the ministry said.
It noted the disputed sums resolved so far amount to about half of one per cent of the US$55 billion recovered by the companies to date.
The ministry also addressed two points it called misconceptions: that the 75 percent cost-recovery cap meant companies received 75 per cent of the oil (it says the cap only limits repayment speed, never allowing recovery beyond actual spend), and that completing cost recovery two years early hurt Guyana (the Ministry says strong production and prices simply moved the country into the higher-earning 39.8 per cent stage sooner).
On production, the ministry reported the Stabroek Block is producing roughly 900,000 barrels a day, with Guyana’s cargo lifts growing from about three million to ten-to-twelve million barrels a month. A separate 2 per cent royalty on every barrel sold brought in US$306 million in the first half of 2026.
The ministry said it will continue publishing production, cargo, and royalty figures monthly, but will not comment publicly on audits still in progress, citing the risk of weakening the country’s negotiating position.