Guyana’s tiny population braces for a gusher of petrodollars
Other countries blessed with oil have not always made good use of it
IT USED TO be a disused sawmill surrounded by fields of sugar cane. But since oil was discovered off Guyana’s coast in 2015 the 52-hectare site in Georgetown, the capital, has been transformed into the biggest logistics hub in the country. From this waterfront spot, Guyana Shore Base serves ExxonMobil, an American oil giant, and other foreign firms drilling for oil off the Caribbean coast. At two big berths along the Demerara river ships pull up to offload equipment for maintenance and pick up supplies for hundreds of workers toiling away on offshore rigs.
This article appeared in the The Americas section of the print edition under the headline “Invest or squander?”
From the March 26th 2022 edition
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