Page 8 - LatAmOil Week 05 2021

LatAmOil COLOMBIA LatAmOil

GEB’s bid may not gain much traction, as the convinced that the NOC will benefit. Ecopet-
Colombian government has indicated that it rol’s share prices dropped in the wake of the
wants to retain some measure of control over announcement of the bid for ISA, and market
both ISA and Ecopetrol. observers expressed scepticism about the poten-
However, investors do not appear to be tial for synergy between the two companies. ™

GUYANA
ExxonMobil blames equipment problems

for resumption of gas flaring at Liza-1

THE US super-major ExxonMobil has come embarrassment for ExxonMobil, which said in
under fire in Guyana for resuming associated late December that it had resolved all problems
gas flaring at higher levels at Liza-1, an offshore related to the leaky gas compressor seal. The
oilfield within the Stabroek block. company and its partners had burnt off more
According to local press reports, ExxonMo- than 2bn cubic feet (56.64mn cubic metres) of
bil said in late January that it was once again associated gas last year.
burning off larger volumes of the gas extracted Vickram Bharrat, Guyana’s Minister of Nat-
by the Liza Destiny, the floating production, ural Resources, said last week that he had asked
storage and off-loading (FPSO) vessel it is using ExxonMobil to install a replacement seal as soon
to develop the field. as possible. The company has pledged to resolve
It did not divulge many details of the matter the matter as quickly as possible, he said.
but said it had taken this action in light of equip- Bharrat did not say when ExxonMobil
ment problems. expected to fix the problem.
“There was a technical issue regarding a seal Problems with gas compression and injec-
on the gas compressor on [the] Liza Destiny,” the tion forced ExxonMobil to reduce oil output
company said in a statement. “This unfortunate temporarily at Liza-1 last year. They also led the
incident resulted in us having to temporarily company to miss its deadline for bringing the
increase our flare above pilot levels in order to field to its projected capacity of 120,000 barrels
maintain safe operations.” per day (bpd).
Alistair Routledge, the president of Exxon- Liza-1, Guyana’s first producing oilfield, has
Mobil Guyana, added: “We are disappointed been in production since December 2019. It is
that this unexpected issue has occurred, and one of the 18 discoveries made at Stabroek to
we’re working diligently with the vessel’s owner date. ExxonMobil has sanctioned development
and the equipment vendor to understand and fix at three sections of the blocks: Liza-1; Liza-2,
the issue as quickly as possible.” which is slated to begin production in 2022; and
The announcement is something of an Payara, which will come on stream in 2024. ™

ExxonMobil has discovered a leaky gas compressor seal on the Liza Destiny FPSO (Image: ShipSpotting.com)

P8 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 05 04•February•2021