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# Guyana's Oil Output Rose 41 Per Cent in Six Months. Its Leaders Spent October Asking Others to Invest.
- URL: https://www.lacaribenanews.com/guyana-oil-41-per-cent-ministers-ask-private-investment-sugar-2026/
- Published: 2026-11-02T17:42:42.000Z
- Updated: 2026-11-02T17:42:44.000Z
- Description: Guyana's oil and gas industry expanded 41.3 per cent in the first half of 2026 on production of 163.3 million barrels. In the four weeks from 7 October, two governments made four official appeals for private investment. None named a figure.
- Author: Theon Alleyne
- Tags: Guyana, Dominican Republic, Oil, Investment, Agriculture, Business

**Quick summary:** Guyana's oil and gas industry expanded 41.3 per cent in the first half of 2026 on production of 163.3 million barrels, the Ministry of Finance reports. In the four weeks from 7 October, two governments made four official appeals for private investment. None named a figure. All four concern land or sectors already carried by public money.

By LCN Business Desk

On 7 October Guyana's President told the region's investors they were complacent. Six days later a Guyanese minister told a room of manufacturers she could not understand why more private money was going anywhere but Lethem. Eight days after that the Prime Minister told Canadian investors Guyana was open for business and asked them to look beyond mining. On 1 November, in San Pedro de Macorís, the Dominican president said his government was studying whether a free zone could be built on a sugar mill that has stopped working.

Four appeals in four weeks. None of them carried a figure, a company or a date.

They were made in a half-year in which Guyana's own accounts record the oil sector growing 41.3 per cent, and in which the state is spending G$16.4 billion to keep its sugar estates employing people.

## How much oil is Guyana producing?

More than ever, and the Ministry of Finance states it plainly.

| First half                        | 2025          | 2026          |
| --------------------------------- | ------------- | ------------- |
| Total production, million barrels | 115.7         | 163.3         |
| Daily average, barrels per day    | about 639,000 | about 902,000 |
| Oil and gas sector growth         |               | 41.3%         |

\*Ministry of Finance, Mid-Year Report 2026, paragraph 3.11\. The report attributes the step up to the first full half-year of production from four vessels in the Stabroek Block following the start-up of the One Guyana floating production vessel in August 2025.\*

The money reached the Treasury. The report records 162 lifts of crude from the Stabroek Block in the half year, of which the Government took 21 lifts of profit oil, and receipts of US$1,778.6 million from its share of profit oil between January and June. A fifth project, Whiptail, is described as on track to start up next year.

The [International Monetary Fund's assessment published in October](https://www.imf.org/en/News/Articles/2026/10/PR26-330?ref=lacaribenanews.com) is in the same direction. It records that oil production "exceeded expectations", says it "is expected to continue expanding", and describes the risks around its outlook as broadly balanced.

## What did the ministers actually say?

Each pointed somewhere and named no terms. None attached a number to the request.

| The ask                            | Who                                                     | When and where                                                            | Figure attached |
| ---------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------- |
| Stop being complacent              | President Irfaan Ali                                    | 7 October 2026, the Caribbean Tourism Organisation conference, Georgetown | None            |
| Invest in Lethem                   | Tourism, Industry and Commerce Minister Susan Rodrigues | 13 October 2026, a Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association panel    | None            |
| Look beyond mining                 | Prime Minister Mark Phillips                            | 21 October 2026, a Canada–Guyana Trade Mission reception                  | None            |
| A free zone on a closed sugar mill | President Luis Abinader                                 | 1 November 2026, San Pedro de Macorís                                     | None            |

\*Sources as cited: the report of the Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association panel, the report of the Canada–Guyana Trade Mission reception, and Dominican coverage of the President's remarks. The right-hand column records whether the speaker named an investment amount, an incentive or a counterparty.\*

Rodrigues was speaking about Region Nine, and [she is baffled that more private investment is not going to Lethem](https://www.lacaribenanews.com/guyana-rodrigues-lethem-investment-oil-will-not-take-us-there-2026/), the township on the Brazilian border. Her framing was a closing window rather than a concern about oil: "This is your time to make your investments; investments will become more expensive in the future."

Phillips, at a reception for The Chair's Circle during the Canada–Guyana Trade Mission 2026, named oil and gas services, agriculture and agro-processing, and infrastructure. "Guyana is open for business, and Guyana is open to doing business with Canada," [he told the room](https://inewsguyana.com/pm-urges-canadian-investors-to-explore-opportunities-beyond-mining/?ref=lacaribenanews.com). He put the diaspora at about 86,000 people of Guyanese origin in Canada and said aggregate bilateral trade grew by more than half between 2021 and 2025\. No deal was reported.

Separately, in the Dominican Republic, President Luis Abinader said his government is studying converting the former Consuelo mill into a free zone to create work and stop young people emigrating to find it, [Dominican coverage of the remarks records](https://www.infobae.com/republica-dominicana/2026/11/01/gobierno-dominicano-estudia-un-proyecto-de-zona-franca-para-generar-empleo-local-a-jovenes/?ref=lacaribenanews.com). He was speaking to young people at the Museo del Pelotero Petromacorisano in San Pedro de Macorís. No investment figure, interested company or construction timetable has been published.

## What is the state already paying for?

In Guyana, the payroll of an industry that earns a fraction of what it costs, and the infrastructure of the place it wants investors to go.

This newspaper reported in October that the Ministry of Finance [revised what it will spend on the Guyana Sugar Corporation to G$16.4 billion, G$3 billion above budget](https://www.lacaribenanews.com/guysuco-subsidy-mid-year-report-one-per-cent-2026/), against sugar export earnings of US$18.1 million in 2025, about G$3.8 billion. Minister of Agriculture Zulfikar Mustapha put 81 per cent of the G$8.4 billion subvention to wages and salaries.

That last proportion is what makes the sugar line comparable to the Dominican one. Neither government is defending a sugar business. Both are paying for employment on sugar land, and [Guyana overspent its sugar budget in four of the last five years](https://www.lacaribenanews.com/guysuco-six-year-retrospective-spending-production-exports-2026/) doing it.

At Lethem the state is building the conditions as well. The earlier report on the Minister's remarks sets out an airport site of some 2,000 hectares, a business incubator and agro-processing facility, a hospital under construction with two operating theatres and a CT scanner, and the road: a US$190 million contract for 121 kilometres from Linden to Mabura Hill, and a further 30 kilometres towards Kurupukari contracted in September against a G$7.6 billion allocation. In the same region [Guyana put G$110 million of solar into three Region Nine villages](https://www.lacaribenanews.com/guyana-region-9-solar-mini-grids-business-diesel-three-times-2026/).

**Four appeals in four weeks, from two governments. Both are already paying for the thing they are asking someone else to fund.**

## Did any of them say what is holding investment back?

No. None of the four reports carries a reason, and none carries a reply from a business body.

The President called the region's investors complacent, which names a cause in them rather than in the terms on offer. The Minister described the opportunity, the infrastructure and the timing, and did not offer an account of what is deterring investment. The Prime Minister's remarks named sectors and a diaspora link. On the Dominican side the proposal is at the study stage, so no terms exist to assess.

What the published record does contain, on all four, is the state's own spending. It does not contain a stated return, a concession period, a tax treatment or a tenancy on any of the assets concerned.

## What is the Dominican Republic doing with its sugar land?

Studying one use for one closed mill, and settling title on another estate.

Consuelo, in San Pedro de Macorís, grew around a sugar mill that no longer runs. The free zone is the proposal for that site. In the same set of announcements the government gave the first shovel on works to address the shortage of potable water in Consuelo, pointed young people towards a new technical training centre run by the national training institute in San Pedro de Macorís, and said an agreement with the Vicini family will allow definitive titling of properties at Guayacanes and at the Ingenio Angelina.

A site, a workforce, training, water and clear title are the components of an investment case rather than an investment. The Dominican free zone regime is run by private park operators under state regulation, so a conversion would put a state-owned former estate into private hands to operate.

Guyana is at the other end of the same question. Its estates are open and the subvention is a wage bill. The Dominican estate is closed and the wage bill is gone, which is why the pitch is about young people leaving.

## What should an investor take from this?

That the infrastructure is being built and the terms are not published.

A firm weighing Region Nine can read what the state has committed: a road under contract, a hospital, an incubator, an airport site, village solar. What it cannot read in any of these announcements is what it would be offered in return for going, because none of the three carried an amount, a period or an incentive.

The practical thing to watch is the first announcement that carries a number. On the Dominican side that would be a decision rather than a study, with an operator named and a site measured. In Guyana it would be a published term on one of the assets at Lethem. The earliest of the four asks was also the bluntest. At the Caribbean Tourism Organisation conference in Georgetown on 7 October, [Guyana told investors to spend](https://www.lacaribenanews.com/sotic-georgetown-ali-investors-bartlett-levy-guyana-arrivals-2026/): President Irfaan Ali called the region's investors complacent, and said Guyana would provide the land and scale for a tropical forest night safari. The land was the offer. Its terms were not stated.

### The entities

- **Ministry of Finance** is the Guyanese ministry that publishes the Mid-Year Report, the source of the production and sugar figures here.
- **Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo)** is the state sugar company that receives the subvention and the capital contribution described.
- **Stabroek Block** is the offshore petroleum block where Guyana's producing vessels operate.
- **One Guyana** is the floating production vessel whose August 2025 start-up the Mid-Year Report credits for the step up in output.
- **Whiptail** is the fifth Stabroek Block project, which the report describes as on track to start up next year.
- **Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association** is the industry body whose panel the Minister of Tourism, Industry and Commerce addressed on 13 October 2026.
- **Canada–Guyana Trade Mission 2026** is the mission at whose reception the Prime Minister spoke on 21 October 2026.
- **International Monetary Fund** is the institution whose October assessment records that oil production exceeded expectations.
- **Consuelo** is the town in San Pedro de Macorís, the Dominican Republic, built around a sugar mill that no longer operates.
- **Ingenio Angelina** is the Dominican sugar estate named in the titling agreement with the Vicini family.
- **Free zone** is a designated area where goods are handled under a separate customs and tax regime, operated in the Dominican Republic by private park operators under state regulation.

### What the title card says

- Headline: Guyana's oil output rose 41 per cent in six months, and its ministers spent October asking others to invest.
- Guyana's oil and gas sector growth, first half of 2026: 41.3 per cent. Source: Ministry of Finance, Mid-Year Report 2026.
- Total production, first half of 2026: 163.3 million barrels, against 115.7 million in the same period of 2025\. Same source.
- Daily average production, first half of 2026: about 902,000 barrels per day, against about 639,000\. Same source.
- Government revenue from its share of profit oil, January to June 2026: US$1,778.6 million. Same source.
- Government lifts of profit oil in the half year: 21, of 162 lifts from the Stabroek Block. Same source.
- Revised 2026 spending on the Guyana Sugar Corporation: G$16.4 billion, G$3 billion above budget. Same source.
- Share of the G$8.4 billion sugar subvention going to wages and salaries: 81 per cent. Source: the Minister of Agriculture.
- Sugar export earnings in 2025: US$18.1 million, about G$3.8 billion.
- Investment amounts named in the four appeals of October and November: none.
- Road contract from Linden to Mabura Hill: US$190 million for 121 kilometres, with a further 30 kilometres towards Kurupukari contracted in September against G$7.6 billion.

## Frequently Asked Questions

How fast is Guyana's oil sector growing?

The Ministry of Finance's Mid-Year Report 2026 estimates the oil and gas industry expanded 41.3 per cent in the first half of 2026, with production of 163.3 million barrels against 115.7 million in the same period of 2025, and a daily average of about 902,000 barrels against about 639,000\. The Government received US$1,778.6 million from its share of profit oil between January and June.

What did Guyana's leaders ask investors to do?

President Irfaan Ali told the Caribbean Tourism Organisation conference in Georgetown on 7 October 2026 that the region's investors were complacent, and said Guyana would provide the land and scale for a tropical forest night safari. Tourism, Industry and Commerce Minister Susan Rodrigues told a Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association panel on 13 October that she is baffled more private investment is not going to Lethem. Prime Minister Mark Phillips asked Canadian investors on 21 October to look beyond mining into oil and gas services, agriculture and agro-processing, and infrastructure. None of the three named an investment amount or an incentive.

What is Guyana spending on sugar, and why does it matter here?

The Ministry of Finance revised 2026 spending on the Guyana Sugar Corporation to G$16.4 billion, G$3 billion above budget, against sugar export earnings of US$18.1 million in 2025, about G$3.8 billion. The Minister of Agriculture put 81 per cent of the G$8.4 billion subvention to wages and salaries, which makes it a payroll rather than a capital rescue.

What is the Dominican Republic proposing at Consuelo?

President Luis Abinader said on 1 November 2026 that the government is studying converting the former Consuelo sugar mill in San Pedro de Macorís into a free zone, to create work and stop young people emigrating to find it. No investment figure, interested company or construction timetable has been published, and the proposal remains at the study stage.

Is the diversification language a signal about oil?

Nothing in the published record supports that reading. The Ministry of Finance records the sector growing 41.3 per cent in the half year, and the International Monetary Fund's October assessment says production exceeded expectations and is expected to continue expanding, with broadly balanced risks. The Minister's own words were about where prosperity reaches rather than about output.