(Kaieteur News) – Opposition Leader, Azruddin Mohamed is urging the government to explore swapping the country’s crude oil for refined fuels like diesel and gasoline as prices soar on the international market in light of ongoing tensions in the Middle East.
In an interview with Kaieteur News, Mohamed highlighted the significant jump in fuel prices since the beginning of this year, pointing to the fact that this increase is directly affecting families across the country. The opposition leader was keen to note that Guyana is producing approximately 900,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd) yet the population remains exposed to vulnerable fuel prices that is driving inflation as admitted by President Irfaan Ali.
According to him, “Guyanese families are paying more at the pump while the country produces about 900,000 barrels of oil a day. That is not bad luck; it is bad planning. We have no refinery, and no strategic fuel reserve, so every global price shock lands on working people.”
Opposition Leader, Azruddin Mohamed
He argued that for years government has discussed the possibility of storage, a reserve and a refinery but Guyanese still await the fulfillment of these promises.
In the meantime, leader of the We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) party noted that citizens in an oil-rich nation feel no benefit, especially when driving into a gas station or paying freight costs.
Mohamed said that the suggestion by an energy analyst, as reported recently in Kaieteur News, for the country to swap its crude oil for refined fuels is worth exploring and should be studied. More importantly however, he stressed the importance of transparency in such transaction involving the country’s natural resources.
“The idea of swapping crude for refined fuel deserves serious study, but we will not sign a blank check on it. Even the analyst who proposed it says it works only “when structured transparently,” and this government’s record on transparency is the problem,” he said.
The opposition leader reminded that the US$214 million audit dispute with ExxonMobil has dragged on for five years and is only now before the International Chamber of Commerce while a far larger audit, covering US$19.6 billion in costs, has been with the government since May 2025, but the report remains hidden from the public.
Consequently, Mohamed urged, “Before any swap, the government must tell Guyanese what it will cost, who the counterparties are, and what price they will pay.”
Additionally, he said, “We are calling for a strategic fuel reserve set up by law, with a clear target, a deadline, and public rules for when it is released. Fuel should be bought through open, tendered contracts, with the pricing formulas and winning bids published.”
Regarding the barter of Guyana’s crude oil, the leader was adamant that swap volumes, suppliers, and prices must be reported to the National Assembly and audited by the Auditor General.
In the meantime, he said that government must publish studies it conducted for the construction of a local refinery and storage facility. The party leader noted that the administration should explain to Guyanese why the proposed US$300 million Curlew Midstream depot was never signed.
As Guyanese continue to struggle to afford fuel in the oil-rich nation, he said an urgent and measured intervention is required by the government.
According to him, “government should show the public exactly how each pump price is built and give direct, time-limited help to farmers, minibus operators, and fishers. The Wales gas-to-energy plant will help with electricity costs, but it is not a fix for pump prices, and the people deserve to hear that plainly.”
To address the situation the country currently finds itself in, an international energy analyst suggested that Guyana explore an initiative that involves swapping its sweet light crude in exchange for refined fuels that can cushion the high prices burdening citizens.
In the absence of a refinery, Guyana imports expensive refined fuels to power its grid and economy, leaving working-class citizens to shoulder escalating costs of living, high freight rates, and frequent power outages managed by the state utility, Guyana Power and Light (GPL).
The urgency for a localised solution has been magnified by a deepening global energy crisis, with Middle East conflicts disrupting tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz and targeted Ukrainian drone strikes crippling Russian refining infrastructure throughout 2025 and 2026. The situation has caused global diesel supplies to fall and instead of buffering itself against this volatility, Guyana operates almost entirely on the spot market for its refined fuel imports.
In an interview with this newspaper, the energy analyst pointed out that the country lacks a multi-month Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR)—a standard macroeconomic tool used by sovereign nations to stabilise prices.
“During an international supply shock, a government can release state-owned, stockpiled fuel from an SPR to artificially lower local pump prices and maintain market liquidity,” the analyst said, requesting to be unnamed.
The analyst noted that this physical buffer hurts the working class, who are forced to absorb imported inflation while the same volatility guarantees high returns for private fuel importers.
To this end, the source suggested, “One heavily debated strategy is the implementation of a crude-to-distillate swap arrangement, paired with the creation of a Strategic Fuel Reserve. Under a swap agreement, a producing nation leverages its share of equity crude—in Guyana’s case, its profit oil allocations—directly exchanging it with global trading houses or refiners for equivalent volumes of refined products like diesel and Heavy Fuel Oil (HFO).”
It was explained that the model is designed to bypass the international spot market entirely.
“When structured transparently, swaps eliminate heavy logistics markups, mitigate currency exchange pressures, and secure a predictable supply of distillates to keep vital assets like Karpowerships and GuySuCo mills operational,” the analyst said.
Source: Kaieteur News
