Guyana—at the frontier
ExxonMobil and its partner are racing ahead with their major Liza discovery in Guyana, at Latin America's exploration frontier. Others are struggling to replicate the success
The split between winners and losers in the frontier exploration campaign off Latin America's northeast coast—focused around Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana—is becoming clearer. Indisputably on the winning side is ExxonMobil and its junior partners, Hess and China's Cnooc, in Guyana. The consortium sanctioned the first phase of development of the huge Liza discovery in June. It followed that in October with its fifth major discovery on the Stabroek Block at the Turbot-1 well, which the drillers say has opened up an entirely separate play in the area. "The Stabroek block contains a massive world-class resource that keeps getting bigger and better," John Hess, the head of his namesake compa
Also in this section
10 March 2026
From Venezuela to Hormuz, the US—backed by the most powerful military force ever assembled—is redrawing not only oil and gas flows but also the global balance of energy power
10 March 2026
By shutting the Strait of Hormuz, Iran has cut exports of distillate-rich Middle Eastern crude, jet fuel and diesel, and is holding the energy market hostage
10 March 2026
Eni’s director for global gas and LNG portfolio, Cristian Signoretto, discusses how demand will respond to rising LNG supply, and how the company is expanding its own gas and LNG operations through disciplined, capital-efficient investments
9 March 2026
Petroleum Economist analysis sees increases in output from Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and Kazakhstan among others before region’s murky descent
