Page 7 - LatAmOil Week 07 2022

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ExxonMobil launches production at Liza-2

EXXONMOBIL (US) and its partners launched challenges they experienced with gas compres-
commercial operations at the Liza-2 oilfield sion at the Liza-1 field.
offshore Guyana on February 11, marking the “The introduction of first oil and hydrocar-
start of their second development project at the bons, it’s a momentous milestone that we’ve
Stabroek block. achieved,” Ryan said on February 11. “It is a sin-
The US super-major issued a statement gle milestone on the journey and we still have a
announcing first oil at Liza-2, saying that the lot of work to do. The spirit of the team is confi-
Liza Unity floating production, storage and dence and calmness, and resilience to continue
off-loading (FPSO) unit had come on stream. the journey towards full gas compression and
The vessel is on track to reach its full design injection, and that’s where we want to get. We’ll
capacity of 220,000 barrels per day (bpd) later continue to ramp up production numbers. But
this year, it said. at the moment, we’re squarely focused on com-
When the Liza Unity achieves this milestone, missioning the gas compression train.”
it will combine with the Liza Destiny, the FPSO Meanwhile, the start of production at Liza-2
installed at the Liza-1 field, to bring the Stabroek has also won praise from Guyana’s government.
block’s production up to more than 340,000 bpd. Natural Resources Minister Vickram Bharrat
The latter vessel, which came online in late 2019, said on February 11 that he welcomed the news
is currently operating above its design capacity of the launch of Liza-2. “The government of
of 120,000 bpd, the statement noted. Guyana and citizens welcome the operation of
Liam Mallon, the president of ExxonMobil this new FPSO to sustainably extract and man-
Upstream Oil and Gas, hailed the launch of Liza- age the country’s oil and gas resources, which
2, noting that the company had brought the field will further enhance earnings from this sector to
into production quickly and stressing that the drive Guyana’s infrastructure development and
project could generate substantial benefits for improve the delivery of services to all citizens,”
Guyana. “We are collaborating closely with the he declared.
government and people of Guyana to develop ExxonMobil is serving as operator of the
this world-class resource responsibly, helping Stabroek project and holds a 45% stake in the
to meet the world’s energy needs and delivering block through its subsidiary ExxonMobil
enhanced value for all stakeholders at a record Guyana. The remaining equity in the project
pace and well ahead of the industry average,” he is split between the US independent Hess,
commented. “With unparalleled project exe- with 30%, and China National Offshore Oil
cution, we now have two production facilities Corp. (CNOOC), with 25%. The partners have
operating offshore Guyana.” made more than 20 commercial discoveries at
In its statement, the US giant pointed out Stabroek since 2015 and estimate the licence
that the project had already generated economic area’s recoverable reserves at more than 10bn
benefits for Guyana. “More than 3,500 Guyanese barrels of oil equivalent (boe). ™
are now supporting ExxonMobil’s activities in
Guyana,” it said. “ExxonMobil and its direct
contractors spent approximately $219mn, with
more than 880 local suppliers in 2021, a 37%
year-on-year increase.”
Additionally, it pointed out that further
investment would be flowing into the Guyanese
economy as the third and fourth development
projects came on stream at Stabroek. Payara,
the third project, will begin production in 2024,
with Yellowtail following suit in late 2025, it said
in its statement.

Gas injection
In the meantime, the company’s near-term focus
will be on ramping up operations at the Liza Des-
tiny. Mike Ryan, production manager at Exxon-
Mobil Guyana, explained in a video posted on
social media sites that this process would focus
on bringing the FPSO’s gas compression systems
into operation so that associated gas from the
Liza-2 field could be re-injected back into the
reservoir rather than flared. He indicated that
the partners had learned a great deal from the The Liza Unity FPSO is supporting development at Liza-2 (Photo: SBM Offshore)

Week 07 17•February•2022 www. NEWSBASE .com P7