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Global energy giant ExxonMobil reported third-quarter 2025 earnings last week. Those results delivered some eye-popping numbers for all the right reasons. The global energy supermajor announced a solid performance despite softer oil prices and a challenging operating environment. While Exxon’s Permian Basin assets are a key part of the story, Exxon’s Guyana operations are another important driver of this notable performance. Exxon made its first discovery in Guyana’s territorial waters in 2015 with the Liza-1 well in the 6.6-million-acre Stabroek Block. This surprised many industry insiders, as earlier drilling campaigns in the former British colony’s territorial waters had failed to find any commercially exploitable hydrocarbons. The Houston-based supermajor, which is the operator, controls a 45% working interest in the Stabroek Block. Hess, now owned by fellow global supermajor Chevron, holds a 30% interest in the block, with the remaining 25% controlled by CNOOC. In a mere four years, Exxon brought the Liza-1 discovery to first oil in an industry where it can take a decade or longer to develop world-class discoveries. Indeed, by the end of 2019, Exxon was lifting nearly 49,000 barrels of oil per day from the Liza Destiny floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) vessel. Since then, the company’s operations in the Stabroek Block have grown exponentially. There are now four active FPSOs in the block with a combined capacity of 900,000 barrels per day. According to data from Guyana’s Ministry of Natural Resources, by the end of September 2025, over 850,000 barrels were being lifted daily in the Stabroek Block. Record production from Exxon’s Permian and Guyana oil acreage delivered solid results in a difficult operating environment, weighed down by weaker petroleum prices. The supermajor’s overall hydrocarbon output for the third quarter of 2025 4.8 million barrels of oil equivalent, was 4% higher than the same period a year earlier. Total production for the first nine months of 2025 rose by a notable 10% year over year to an average of 4.7 million barrels per day. Despite that strong production growth, upstream earnings declined. Third quarter 2025 earnings fell 7.8% year on year to $5.7 billion, while for the first nine months of the year, they dropped 5.6% to $17.8 billion. This translated into weaker earnings per share of $1.76 for the third quarter and $5.16 for the year-to-date, which were 8.3% and 16% lower, respectively. That disappointing outcome was the result of sharply weaker oil prices, with the international Brent price for the third quarter of 2025 down 13% year on year. Regardless, Exxon rewarded loyal shareholders, hiking the quarterly dividend by four cents per share, a 4% quarter-on-quarter increase, to pay a fourth quarter 2025 dividend of $1.03 per share, which gives shareholders a 2025 dividend payment of $4 with a juicy 3.5% yield. While the weaker outlook for oil prices is weighing on Exxon’s and industry-wide results, the supermajor will continue to benefit from its offshore operations in Guyana. The Yellowtail project came online during late August 2025 with the ONE GUYANA FPSO currently ramping up production. The facility has a plate capacity to pump 250,000 barrels of crude oil per day, which, once fully operational, will lift total production in the Stabroek Block to around 900,000 barrels daily. The oil pumped by Exxon in offshore Guyana is proving to be highly popular. Golden Arrowhead grade crude oil, which is the type of petroleum lifted from the Stabroek Block, has an API gravity of 36.5 degrees and sulfur content of 0.25%, indicating that it is particularly light and sweet. The emission intensity of the oil lifted at 9 kilograms of carbon per barrel extracted is quite low by industry standards, coming in at half of the 18 kilograms per barrel average for upstream production across the globe. The petroleum extracted in the Stabroek Block has a low breakeven price of around $30 per barrel, making it profitable to lift even in the current low-price environment. Related: Kazakhstan’s October Oil Output Falls 10% on Tengiz Maintenance Exxon will further lift production volumes from its assets in offshore Guyana. Two facilities are currently under construction, the Uaru and Whiptail projects, which are expected to cost $12.7 billion each. Both operations will have a nameplate capacity of 250,000 barrels, adding a combined total of 92 production and injection wells to the Stabroek Block. It is anticipated that Uaru will come online during 2026 with the deployment of an FPSO to be called Errea Wittu. Whiptail is expected to start lifting petroleum in 2027 after the stationing of the FPSO Jaguar, currently under construction. In late September 2025, Exxon approved the Hammerhead development, the seventh project on the Stabroek Block. This project, which will cost $6.8 billion, has name plate capacity of 150,000 barrels of crude oil per day and is expected to come online during 2029. That operation brings total committed investment in the Stabroek Block to $60 billion. On commencing operations, Hammerhead will boost the Stabroek Block’s installed capacity 1.5 million barrels per day, making Guyana South America’s second-largest oil producer behind Brazil in first place. The Stabroek Block is a world-class petroleum asset containing at least 11 billion barrels of high-quality recoverable oil. Exxon is profiting from securing a favourable production sharing agreement (PSA) with Georgetown, which includes an extremely low royalty rate of 2%. This, along with the Stabroek Block’s low breakeven price, high-quality light sweet crude oil and growing production, will significantly boost Exxon’s bottom line. Guyana's economy is also benefiting, with double-digit gross domestic product (GDP) growth, making the country the wealthiest in South America by GDP per capita. By Matthew Smith for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com Indian Oil Giant ONGC Eyes Return to Syrian Operations Norway Freezes $2.1 Trillion Oil Fund Ethics Rules to Protect Big Tech Stakes South Korea’s Offshore Oil and Gas Dream Faces Funding Crisis
