Assets in Guyana and US are Exxon’s most profitable businesses

Feb 06, 2021 News

ExxonMobil’s Vice President, Investor Relations and Secretary, Stephen Littleton

Kaieteur News – ExxonMobil has admitted that Guyana is one of its two most profitable business ventures.
The supermajor’s Secretary and Vice President of Investor Relations, Stephen Littleton said during the company’s 2020 fourth quarter earnings call on Tuesday that ExxonMobil’s Guyana and Permian basin assets represent the highest return investments.
Though the company sustained a loss in 2020 due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Littleton noted that increased liquids production in Guyana benefitted its earnings, as well as some improvements in upstream, natural gas and liquefied natural gas (LNG) prices.
As for the Permian, Littleton said its volumes exceeded its plan, and produced “370,000 oil equivalent barrels per day, despite curtailments and reduced investment.”
“This performance,” it said, “was driven by significant ongoing improvements in operating efficiencies and technology development.”
Littleton said that by funding Exxon’s Guyana assets and its Permian chemical business, it is looking to begin paying down its debt of US$67.6 billion once Brent prices sustain themselves just above US$50 a barrel.
Addressing ExxonMobil’s Guyana plans, Littleton said, “We continue to progress active exploration programs in Guyana…”
This refers to intentions ExxonMobil and its Stabroek Block partners, Hess and CNOOC/NEXEN, to drill 12-15 wells in the area. The companies have already made 18 commercial discoveries after drilling 22 wells, with commercial reserves in the block amounting to nine billion oil-equivalent barrels.
“We progressed Liza Phase Two and Payara developments in Guyana and continued our exploration success with three new discoveries, increasing the recoverable resource estimate on the Stabroek Block to nearly nine billion oil equivalent barrels.” Littleton said.
Exxon has already received approval for three oil developments, targeting over a billion barrels in total. Liza Phase Two and Payara are scheduled for first oil in 2022 and 2024 respectively, joining the currently producing Liza Phase One operation.
The company is looking to rapidly develop the reserves with five Floating Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessels in the Stabroek Block by 2026, producing 750,000 barrels of oil. This newspaper’s calculations show that by FPSO #4, ExxonMobil will have already achieved a combined nameplate capacity of 1,000,000 barrels per day. Further, the company sees potential for 7-10 FPSOs as time progresses.
In addition to its Stabroek Block license, ExxonMobil has begun exploration in the Canje and Kaieteur Blocks, both which have multi-billion barrel potential.

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