Oil in Liza 1, 2 and Payara to be drained in less than five years

Feb 16, 2025 News

20-year project life shortened as…

Kaieteur News-The 20-year lifespan of the Liza One, Liza Two and Payara projects, all currently producing oil above the daily average outlined in respective project plans have been reduced to less than five years.

Field Development Plans (FDP), which provide intricate details of a planned project were submitted by ExxonMobil Guyana Limited (EMGL) to the Government of Guyana (GoG) for each of the three oil producing projects.

According to the documents, which GoG refused to make public, the Liza One project, which commenced oil production in December 2019, has a reserve of 452 million barrels of oil (MBO).

The Liza Two project, according to the FDP has a reserve of about 570 MBO. That project commenced production in February 2022.

Meanwhile, the Payara project, which commemorated first oil in November 2023, is estimated to hold some 600 million barrels of oil resources.

This week, ExxonMobil revealed it has already produced 100 MBO at the third development- Payara. This means that the project now has 500 MBO remaining. At the current rate of production of about 250,000 barrels per day (bpd), the oil in Payara will be drained in 5.4 years.

At the Liza One project, approximately 211,960,000 barrels were produced as at the end of January 2025. As such, 240,040,000 barrels were remaining but considering Exxon’s average rate of production- 130,000 bpd – the resources could be depleted in five years.

Likewise, ExxonMobil has already produced about 223MBO at the Liza Two development. The remaining resources, at the current production capacity of about 250,000 bpd, can be depleted in 3.8 years.

It can therefore be deduced that the resources in the three projects, which each have a lifespan of 20 years, can be drained in under five years.

Ramped up oil production

To date, all three of the projects in operation have been pushed to produce more than the design rates of the respective Floating Production Storage and Offloading vessels (FPSOs), as outlined in the Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs).

For instance, the Prosperity vessel, according to the EIA was designed to pump 220,000 bpd but is pumping around 250,000 bpd.

Meanwhile, the Liza Destiny FPSO (which operates Liza One) was designed to safely produce at peaks of 120,000 bpd but is now producing as much as 165,000 bpd.

Liza Unity, which produces oil from the Liza Two project, was designed to produce 220,000 bpd is now producing an average 250,000 bpd.

Before increasing production at the vessels, ExxonMobil received regulatory approvals from the GoG and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Presently, the oil giant is seeking permission to further optimize the Prosperity and Unity FPSOs which will result in higher daily production.

(Oil in Liza 1, 2 and Payara to be drained in less than five years)

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