Latest update January 30th, 2025 6:10 AM
May 07, 2024 ExxonMobil, News, Oil & Gas
Kaieteur News – ExxonMobil Guyana Limited (EMGL), the operator of the oil-rich Stabroek Block has already breached the safe operating limits outlined in the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for its second deep water project, Liza Two; however, the company will be conducting further modifications to the Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel- Unity- to accelerate its daily oil production.
Exxon’s Country Manager, Alistair Routledge last week told reporters during a media conference at its head office in Kingston, Georgetown that when the FPSO goes offline in the third quarter of the year to facilitate the tie-in works for the Gas-to-Energy (GTE) project, the company will take advantage of the downtime to conduct maintenance and further debottlenecking activities.
Routledge reported that the company had a “very strong” production start in the beginning of the year, resulting from the “industry leading ramp up of the Payara project” and the very strong reliability performance in the Liza One and Two assets.
Although all three of the FPSOs are currently producing above the respective design capacity, the Liza Unity is poised for further optimization works.
Presently, Liza One and Liza Two are producing about 150,000 bpd and 250,000 barrels per day (bpd) respectively. The EIAs each specifically outline 120,000 and 220,000 bpd, as the safe operating limit for Liza One and Two, respectively. Similarly, the third oil project- Payara- is also producing approximately 230,000 bpd even though the vessel’s nameplate capacity is 220,000 bpd.
Be that as it may, the Country Manager disclosed, “Part of the Unity shutdown is actually going to include some additional debottlenecking work where we think maybe we could produce above 252,000 barrels per day. Studies have demonstrated that that could be done, so in that shut down period where we are installing the riser we will also be doing some additional modifications, some other planned maintenance work that we would have done a little later that we’ve accelerated forward for integrity activity so there is other work in that shutdown that will hopefully be beneficial also to the production capacity.”
Notably, Exxon also plans to mirror the Liza Unity production at the Payara development. “We anticipate in a next month or two, hopefully we’ll complete those reviews and if that’s satisfactory then we’ll make that adjustment,” Routledge disclosed.
He reported that the reservoirs at the Payara project were performing exceptionally well encouraging the company to increase the capacity of the wells.
According to him, the Prosperity FPSO that operates the third project is similar to the Liza Destiny FPSO. As such, he explained that the studies indicate a similar capacity of 252,000 bpd with relatively minor modifications that would not require any shutdown of the facility. To this end, Routledge pointed out, “The studies have been done; we’re working through reviews with the government agencies, the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency), the MNR (Ministry of Natural Resources) to ensure everybody has that opportunity to test and be comfortable that it is safe to increase to those levels.”
He described the optimization works as a “very normal process” where the company would assess the performance of the facilities for existing limitations of the installed equipment to determine how those could be improved.
“For example, we may have a valve which is the limitation. Could we change the trim in the valve to allow more fluids to flow through it safely? If its coolers or heaters that are the limitation, could we put additional plates or bundles into those coolers to enhance the capacity of them,” Routledge posited.
Meanwhile, with regards to the safety of this process, he claimed, “It’s always safe. The production levels that we produce at, we always start with safety in mind. Our first priority is safety of the people onboard the facilities, protecting the environment.”
The President of ExxonMobil Guyana went on to note that he would spend time with the offshore crew prior to increasing production, as they would ultimately decide if they are comfortable increasing daily production, following extensive studies and government reviews.
Even though experts argue that the risk of an oil spill is increased with the acceleration of daily production activities, the company is reluctant to provide the country with an unlimited parent company guarantee that protects this country from the liabilities associated with a disastrous spill.
Presently, Guyana has been assured of a US$600 million insurance policy per oil spill event and a US$2B guarantee.
Jan 30, 2025
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