Luxury Cars and Opulent Weddings Show Guyana’s Windfall From War in Iran

Photographs by César Rodríguez

Luxury Cars and Opulent Weddings Show Guyana’s Windfall From War in Iran

NY Times-Sept 19th2026

Photographs by César Rodríguez

Simon Romero, who has covered energy politics across Latin America, reported from Georgetown, Guyana. Rebecca F. Elliott, who covers the global energy industry, reported from New York.

Sept. 19, 2026Updated 9:47 a.m. ET

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Ferraris and Lamborghinis creep through traffic-choked streets. New steakhouses serve imported cuts of Wagyu beef. Music festivals fly D.J.s in from Miami and Jamaica. Opulent weddings are the talk of the town.

Such luxury trappings are popping up in Georgetown, Guyana’s capital. The city is far removed from the widening war in the Middle East, which has severely restricted energy flows, casting a pall over economies around the world.

But Guyana, a small South American country bordering Venezuela that began producing oil just a few years ago, is reaping a windfall from the turmoil.

This torrent of oil money underscores Guyana’s new standing as a linchpin in a sweeping realignment of global energy markets.

Blunting the loss of Middle Eastern oil, production is surging up and down the Americas, strikingly in Guyana but also in Canada, Brazil, Argentina and, perhaps soon in Venezuela. The Americas now produce around 37 percent of the world’s oil, up from 27 percent a decade ago, according to S&P Global Energy, a research firm.

“Guyana is suddenly punching well above its weight,” said Richard Rambarran, an economist in Georgetown. “But this is only the beginning.” Oil output now stands at about 900,000 barrels a day. Guyana’s production capacity is projected to surge to 1.7 million barrels a day by 2030, Mr. Rambarran noted.

Economic growth reached a staggering 33 percent in the first half of the year, according to government data, making Guyana the world’s fastest-growing economy. But the boom also carries the risk of inciting or magnifying tensions and grievances across the former British colony.

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https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/19/world/americas/guyana-oil-boom.html