Guyana Oil Exports Jump, Gain Europe Market Share In 2024

• Guyana's oil exports rose 54% in 2024 to 582,000 barrels per day (bpd), fueled by European refiners' demand for easy-to-process sweet crudes to replace some Middle Eastern grades, according to traders and shipping data from financial firm LSEG (London Stock Exchange Group).
• Since it started exporting oil in early 2020, the burgeoning oil nation has emerged as the fifth-largest Latin American crude exporter after Brazil, Mexico, Venezuela and Colombia.
• But unlike Latin America's usual offer of heavy sour oil, Guyana's lighter and sweeter crude grades have carved out a rising share in Europe, where most refineries are not as complex as most Latin American and U.S. Gulf Coast plants that turn heavy grades into motor fuels. In 2024, 66% of Guyana's crude exports or some 388,000 bpd went to Europe, compared with 62% the previous year, the shipping data showed.
• Of note, Guyana's oil began gaining favour in Europe in the aftermath of Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, which pushed many refiners to avoid sanctioned Russian crude and seek alternative supplies.
• Furthermore, last year, attacks in the Red Sea affected oil flows from the Middle East, giving crudes from Guyana and Brazil better chances of finding buyers in Europe, said Homayoun Falakshahi, a senior analyst of crude markets at data analytics platform Kpler.
• Producers in Guyana also almost doubled shipments to the United States last year to 23,000 bpd, while exports to Asia increased in smaller magnitude to around 139,000 bpd. Sales to Latin America and the Caribbean were almost unchanged at around 32,000 bpd.
• The rise in exports has been possible due to a consortium led by U.S. oil major Exxon Mobil expanding output rapidly through three floating production facilities (Liza 1 and 2, and Payara), with a fourth expected to add about 250,000 bpd of capacity this year.

(Source: Reuters)