As the geopolitical map of South American oil shifts in early 2026, the contrast between Guyana and Venezuela has never been starker. In global energy markets, geology is often treated as destiny. If a country has oil, investment and prosperity are assumed to follow. But, in recent years, the contrast between Guyana and Venezuela—two neighbors sitting atop the same prolific basin—offers a powerful rebuttal to that assumption. The two countries share some similarities, but they occupy completely different economic worlds. One is…