Exxon to bring up 20,000 barrels more per day by 2022 from Liza 1

May 30, 2021 News

Hess Corporation’s COO, Greg Hill.

Kaieteur News – Hess Corporation’s Chief Operating Officer (COO), Greg Hill, has revealed that Stabroek Block operator, ExxonMobil, will be increasing the production capacity of the Liza Destiny Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel by some 20,000 barrels for 2022.
During his recent participation at the UBS Global Energy Virtual Conference 2021, Hill said, the Liza Destiny is already operating at 120,000 barrels of oil per day, even though the flash gas compressor is in the USA undergoing repairs and a small amount of redesign. That equipment was removed after malfunctioning for a fourth time since being in operation.
Hill said, “It will come back out on platform in June and be operational by July 1, and once it becomes operational, we will be able to walk the production up somewhere between 120,000 to 130,000 barrels of oil per day. And then in November of this year, we will do two things, we will take a shut down and we’ll install a new design flash gas compressor to hopefully get it more reliable.”
The Chief Operating Officer added, “But the second most important objective of the November shut down, is to debottleneck or optimise the facility so that a new nameplate of somewhere between 140,000 to 150,000 barrels of oil per day will be had. So hopefully, in December once all that work is done, we will see it begin to ramp up to that higher nameplate capacity for next year.”
Asked to say if the other ships – particularly Liza Unity and the Prosperity, which will operate the Liza Phase Two Project and the Payara Project respectively – will undergo the same type of changes, Hill answered in the affirmative. He said it is very typical for large projects like this too. He explained that once Exxon gets an understanding of the vessel and how it operates; the relevant changes can be made to increase the capacity.
Hill said, “You need the dynamic data of operating that vessel to understand where your pinch points are, and so you need about six months to a year of operating data to do that, and then you can go in and put in some piping changes and eliminate those bottle necks and then go to a higher nameplate and typically, you can probably count on 10 to 15 percent, but we will wait and see the dynamic data first.”
In providing an example, he said the Liza Unity, which is poised to produce about 220,000 barrels of oil per day, can increase to 240,000 barrels. The Liza Unity, an under-construction FPSO that will be Guyana’s second offshore facility in production, remains on schedule for first oil in 2022. The China-built FPSO hull recently arrived in Singapore for topside integration.
SBM Offshore, the company that has been tasked with delivering the Liza Unity FPSO, last month said, some delays in project execution would be unavoidable due to the Covid-19 lockdowns, but that the company was in close contact with clients and business partners to manage the situation, adjust execution planning and where appropriate, create mitigation plans.

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