In a mere six years, one of South America’s poorest nations, Guyana, has emerged as the world’s newest petrostate. There is speculation that the tiny country of less than one million is on track to become the continent’s second-largest oil producer. Even neighboring Venezuela’s President Maduro’s never-ending saber rattling over the Essequibo is not distracting the national government, in the capital Georgetown, from promoting the world’s fastest-growing oil boom. Guyana is now a major contributor to the world petroleum supply and will become the largest per capita oil producer, with production anticipated to exceed one million barrels per day by the end of 2027.
