Page 14 - LatAmOil Week 22

LatAmOil GUYANA LatAmOil

Guyana plans gas-to-power project

GUYANA’S government is reportedly moving portion of its production to power its floating
forward with plans to use natural gas from the production, storage and off-loading (FPSO)
offshore Stabroek block as fuel for domestic unit, known as the Liza Destiny, and re-injects
electricity production. another portion back into the field in order to
Officials in Georgetown have drawn up plans sustain reservoir pressure. But it is also burning
for a gas-to-power project that would more off the volumes it cannot use, at a rate of about
than triple the generating capacity of GPL, the 14-15 mmcf (396,000-425,000 cubic metres) per
national power provider. According to Argus day, according to the Guyanese government’s
Media, these plans call for the construction of environmental agency.
a 160-km subsea pipeline connecting Liza, the The US super-major has confirmed that
first field developed at Stabroek, to a new ther- it is flaring gas. “Start-up for the Liza project
mal power plant (TPP) that will have a capacity involves temporary flaring to fully commission
of about 250 MW. the gas compression and injection system. We
Currently, GPL has only about 120 MW of have successfully started up the gas handling
installed capacity, and all of its TPPs use residual system and begun gas injection into the reser-
fuel oil for generation. The government’s plan voir,” a representative of the firm’s Guyana office
calls for these plants to switch to cleaner-burn- told Argus Media earlier this week. ™
ing gas. These new fuel supplies will presumably
be delivered via the new pipeline, which is to
have a capacity of 30-50mn cubic feet (850,000-
1.42mn cubic metres) per day.
Mark Bynoe, the director of Guyana’s Energy
Department, has described the project as “far
advanced.” He has also indicated that George-
town will soon call a tender so that it can find a
contractor to build the new facilities. Earlier this
week, he was quoted by Argus Media as saying:
“We have a draft memorandum of understand-
ing [MoU] and a very cogent working group
made up of critical players within the govern-
ment. We hope to engage the private sector
as well so that they can understand what the
opportunities are.”
Meanwhile, ExxonMobil (US), the opera-
tor of the Stabroek block, is already consuming
some of the gas it extracts from Liza. It uses one ExxonMobil is using the Liza Destiny FPSO to develop Liza (Image: ExxonMobil)

BRAZIL
Coronavirus cases spread among

Brazil’s offshore oil producers

AT least six oil companies have now registered for most of these cases. To date, hundreds of
cases of coronavirus (COVID-19) infection cases have been recorded at oilfields operated by
among their employees or contractors working the national oil company (NOC), Reuters said,
at facilities offshore Brazil. citing industry and regulatory sources. As of
As of last Thursday, Reuters reported, Brazil’s May 30, it stated, the NOC had 181 active cases
national oil regulator ANP had registered 544 of infections among all of its 46,416 employees.
active coronavirus cases among workers who The data do not include contractors or employ-
had accessed offshore facilities. The agency fig- ees who have recovered, the news agency said.
ure does not include workers who have recov- The list of affected firms includes three for-
ered, it added. eign operators, as well as two privately-owned
State-run Petrobras appears to be responsible Brazilian companies, Reuters said.

P14 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 22 04•June•2020