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Exxon decided on ramped up production at Stabroek Block – Hess Boss
…says Rex Tillerson opted to produce at ‘breakneck’ speeds to maximise profits
Kaieteur News – Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo has been at the forefront of championing the accelerated production of oil from the Stabroek Block by Operator Esso Exploration and Production and Guyana Limited—ExxonMobil—from the Stabroek Block.
Hess Corporation CEO, John Hess
According to recent pronouncements however, it was the Former President of ExxonMobil, Rex Tillerson who pressed for the accelerated production of oil from Guyana’s offshore Stabroek Block. The revelation was made recently by ExxonMobil Guyana partner in the Stabroek Block, John Hess, Chief Executive Officer of the Hess Corporation. Hess was at the time speaking during a panel discussion at the 38th Strategic Decisions Conference 2022—organised by Bernstein Anonymous. According to Hess, “when we first were fortunate enough to have our first discovery in 2015, I remember talking to Rex Tillerson about this, and he said John, we (ExxonMobil) want to go as fast as we can, but we don’t want to have any leakage; what was he really saying let’s be capital-efficient and operating expense efficient.”
Former President of ExxonMobil, Rex Tillerson
Lauding ExxonMobil’s approach to the development of the Stabroek Block thus far, Hess noted that “doing one ship a year is a huge task, for project management for execution for the yards to handle it, Exxon is probably the best in the business at doing this.” He was referencing the construction of numerous Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) Vessels that are being used to produce crude oil and other gases from the Stabroek Block. There are currently two such vessels in operation namely the Liza Destiny, with a nameplate capacity of 120,000 barrels of oil daily (BOD), but has since been ramped up to more than 140,000 BOD.Additionally, the Liza Unity commenced operations earlier this year with a nameplate capacity of some 220,000 BOD and that vessel is also expected to be ramped up to above its design capacity. Hess in speaking to the vessels told stakeholders ExxonMobil’s “philosophy of design one and build many, doing one a year is industry leading and we have a page in our investor pack that that actually shows our development of oil production is two to three times faster than any other global offshore development, so we are going fast and we are bringing value forward and we are going about fast as we can to be capital efficient and efficient as well.”
According to Hess, the third ship Payara was supposed to come on-stream at 220,000 BOD, in 2024 but that has since been moved up to the fourth quarter of 2023.
The Liza Destiny currently producing more than 20,000 barrels of oil per day above what it was designed for.
With regards increased production from those vessels beyond nameplate capacity, Hess said, “I would say both Liza Phase II, the second ship, and Payara, the third ship, both have the opportunity to debottleneck to go up maybe another 10 percent just like Liza Phase I.”
On the fourth project—Yellowtail—Hess told the confab that development which recently approved is currently having its Hull built to accommodate some 250,000 BOD nameplate capacity representing the largest of the vessels to be put in operations thus far.
That development too is also ahead of schedule and will cost some US$10B, according to Hess.
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