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Georgetown, Guyana (Credible Sources) During the scrutiny of Budget 2025 expenditures and estimates on January 31, 2025, Minister of Natural Resources Vickram Bharrat reaffirmed that the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) government will not renegotiate the Stabroek Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) despite their 2020 campaign commitments.
“We have made it clear that we are not going to renegotiate the Stabroek contract,” Bharrat stated. Instead, he highlighted that the government has developed a new model PSA to secure better fiscal terms for future oil contracts.
Bharrat pointed to key changes in the new PSA, which he said would apply to any new contracts, including those signed with ExxonMobil. “Instead of 0 percent tax in the Stabroek PSA, any future PSA moving forward will have 10 percent tax,” he explained.
He further outlined that the royalty rate has increased from 2 percent in the Stabroek contract to 10 percent in the new PSA, and cost recovery has been lowered from 75 percent to 65 percent, which he said would mean “more money up front for Guyana.”
However, he confirmed that the 50-50 profit-sharing arrangement in the Stabroek PSA remains unchanged in the new agreements.
Addressing concerns about multiple PSAs, Bharrat clarified that the four new PSAs expected to be signed in 2025 are not separate agreements with different terms but are aligned under the government’s new model.
“The PSA for all blocks must be the same,” he stated, explaining that there will be one standard contract for deep-water operations and another for shallow-water operations, with fiscal terms remaining consistent.
