When Guatemala's Xan oil concession expired on August 30, 2025, it marked more than the end of a contract—it represented a fundamental shift in how the country values its natural heritage versus fossil fuel revenue. President Bernardo Arévalo's administration chose not to renew Anglo‑French company Perenco's drilling rights in Laguna del Tigre National Park, effectively ending oil extraction in this ecologically critical area of the Maya Biosphere Reserve.
The Maya Biosphere Reserve spans about 2.1 million hectares across Guatemala's northern Petén region, forming the heart of the largest remaining tropical forest in Central America north of the Amazon. The reserve encompasses diverse ecosystems including tropical rainforest, wetlands, savannas, lakes, and rivers, providing habitat for jaguars, scarlet macaws, tapirs, and hundreds of other species. It also contains numerous ancient Maya archaeological sites and supports roughly 180,000 people. Perenco had operated the Xan field since 2001 when it acquired Basic Resources International; the field produced heavy crude oil from beneath primary rainforest, yielding an estimated 5,000–7,000 barrels per day, which represented the vast majority of Guatemala's domestic oil output.
Environmental groups and local communities long warned that oil operations increased access to remote forest areas, heightened risks of pollution to the reserve's extensive wetlands and waterways, and contributed to broader governance challenges. Officials framed the decision not to renew the concession as a move to prioritize environmental protection and to address the illegal activities—such as land grabbing, cattle ranching, and logging—driving deforestation in the region.
The government plans to convert the former oil site into a base for the Ministry of National Defense and the National Civil Police to strengthen patrols and infrastructure aimed at preventing illicit activity. Conservation organizations and community forestry groups welcomed the closure as an opportunity to reinforce protection and expand community‑led forest management; community concessions in Petén manage hundreds of thousands of hectares sustainably. Since 2012, efforts to reclaim degraded forest within the reserve have recovered large areas, and recent monitoring has recorded localized forest gains in parts of the reserve.
The choice reflects Guatemala's attempt to balance economic development with long‑term environmental stewardship and Indigenous and community rights: ending oil extraction removes a significant threat and creates space to focus on conservation, restoration, and sustainable livelihoods in one of Mesoamerica's most important landscapes.