Aramco Picked to Market Guyana’s crude

Guyana has awarded a subsidiary of Saudi Aramco, a one-year contract to market the government’s share of the crude produced in the South American country, Bharat Jagdeo, Vice President said.

According to Reuters, in early September the country had awarded Saudi Arabian Oil Co, Aramco a contract to market a scheduled shipment from 21 to 22 September.

Guyana’s Minister of Natural Resources Vickram Bharrat said at the time, that Aramco was likely to win a one-year contract as well, but that the process has not been completed.

Guyana, a nascent oil producer, became the world’s newest energy hotspot when a consortium led by ExxonMobil began producing crude oil off the South American country’s coast in late 2019.

It now produces about 120,000 barrels per day, and the Consortium, which also includes New York-based Hess Corp and Chinese state-owned CNOOC unit Nexen, has discovered more than nine billion barrels of recoverable resources.

However, Guyana lacks local refining capabilities and does not own a state oil company, so earlier this year the country launched a search process for an agent to market its crude.

Parallel talks with Indian refiners to export Guyana’s light oil to that country failed to lead to a supply contract.