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Increased oil production being done safely – EPA
(Kaieteur News) – The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Thursday said that increased oil production in the Stabroek Block is being done safely by ExxonMobil, following a rigorous scientific process to optimize the Floating Production Storage and Offloading vessels (FPSOs).
The regulator was responding to an article published by Kaieteur News on November 25, 2025 under the headline Govt. greenlights Exxon’s 60,000-barrel surge. This publication reported that government approved Exxon’s request to increase production on two FPSOs by 30,000 barrels each, pushing the projects to produce a total of 60,000 barrels above their design capacity.
This was revealed in the mid-year report which states, “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.”
The Liza Two EIA showing the design rates of the Unity FPSO.
The Payara EIA showing the design rates of the Prosperity FPSO.
Notably, Kaieteur News pointed out 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”.
Similarly, the Prosperity FPSO which produces oil at the third deepwater development offshore was designed to produce 220,000 bpd, according to the EIA. (See tables attached)
In a statement to the media, the EPA made it clear that the FPSOs are not operating above safe limits. The regulator pointed out that approval was granted for both vessels to safely produce above the design rates.
It said, “all production optimization tests are done under the close collaboration between the EPA, along with the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission. Additionally, the EPA issued its formal “No Objection” for these rates to the Payara and Unity FPSOs only after independent verification confirmed that operations remain safe and environmentally sound.”
Regarding Liza Unity, EPA said, “Authorization was granted to maintain a target of 270,000 barrels per day (KBD), an optimization from the previous steady state of 252 KBD.”
Meanwhile, on the Prosperity FPSO, it noted, “Authorization was granted to maintain a target of 265,000 KBD, an optimization from the previous steady state of 252 KBD.”
EPA highlighted that the increases were not arbitrary but were achieved through strategic “Production Optimisation Tests” (POTs), which involved the gradual incremental increase in production while simultaneously verifying system stability at every increment.
Further, it said, “For Liza Unity, the approved EIA assessed potential environmental impacts for production rates up to 300,000 barrels per day. The current production level of 270,000 bpd is well within the safety envelope already studied and approved by the EPA.”
Additionally, “For Payara Prosperity, the EIA assessed impacts based on conservative annual averages that fully accommodate the current peak targets of 265,000 bpd without exceeding environmental thresholds.”
To this end, the regulator argued that the assertion that the vessels are operating “above safe limits” ignores the engineering upgrades mandated by the EPA.
It pointed out that the Operator was required to install physical upgrades to crude oil heaters, coolers, and control valves to safely increase capacity to 270 KBD on the Unity FPSO.
Similarly, it noted that technical evaluations confirmed the Prosperity FPSO “possessed inherent design capacity to safely handle 265 KBD without major modifications.”
Meanwhile, regarding environmental safely, the regulator assured, “Data submitted to the Agency during the testing periods confirms that environmental safeguards remain intact: flaring remains at background levels, strictly for safety; produced water discharges remain fully compliant with the regulatory limit of 29 mg/L (monthly average); (and) vibration and Corrosion monitoring show all piping systems are operating within safe integrity limits.”
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