Govt. greenlights Exxon’s 60,000-barrel surge

Nov 25, 2025 News

…Liza Unity and Prosperity now pumping above safe design limits

(Kaieteur News) – The Government of Guyana (GoG) has approved a request by ExxonMobil Guyana Limited (EMGL) to increase production on two Floating Production Storage and Offloading vessels (FPSOs) by 30,000 barrels each, pushing the projects to produce a total of 60,000 barrels above their design capacity.

According to the mid-year report, “Production from the Stabroek Block – the Liza Destiny, Liza Unity, and Prosperity FPSOs – grew in the first half of 2025. Collectively, these projects achieved an average rate of nearly 640,000 bpd, exceeding the 624,000 bpd at the end of June 2024.”

Govt. greenlights Exxon’s 60,000-barrel surge

Guyana’s third FPSO, Prosperity

Government explained that the higher production rates were driven by successful optimisation activities conducted on the Liza Unity and Prosperity FPSOs. Optimisation in the oil and gas sector refers to a process geared at enhancing oil recovery. The company would assess the performance of the facilities for existing limitations of the installed equipment to determine how those could be improved.

According to the report, “These scopes, largely entailing topside debottlenecking activities, will continue to enable production rates averaging beyond 250,000 (barrels per day) bpd at Unity and Prosperity into the second half, respectively.”

It is important to note that the Liza Unity FPSO, which produces oil at the Liza Two development, has a design capacity of 220,000 bpd, according to the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). The document also states that “the facilities will have the potential to safely operate at sustained peaks of oil production up to approximately 250,000 bopd”. Be that as it may the vessel is now producing over its safe operating limit.

Similarly, the Prosperity FPSO which produces oil at the third deepwater development offshore was designed to produce 220,000 bpd, according to the EIA.

At his end of year press conference in 2024, Minister of Natural Resources, Vickram Bharrat told reporters that a request was received from Exxon to increase oil production on the two vessels. He noted that an independent consultant was hired by the GoG to review the company’s application.

Additionally, he noted that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is also fully engaged in the process, since the no-objection would be tied to the environmental permit issued by the agency.

He explained, “On our side to give final approval, we have contracted a third-party international consultant to look at this matter. As soon as they would have concluded their report, we would be in a better position to either say no or yes to the optimisation.”

The minister did not say how much the company is looking to increase production by.

Bharrat however noted, “The government is not against production. We have said that from day one but it must be done in a safe manner. It must be done in a manner that will not cause any issue with equipment or with regards to the environment.”

Stakeholders have often raised concerns over the increased risk of an oil spill that can occur as a result of ramped up production activities on the vessels which have specific design rates.

Both government and Exxon however maintain that the increased production activities are being conducted in a safe and responsible manner, following rigid tests and processes to the equipment.

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EIA, Exxon, FPSO, oil barrel, production, surge

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