Page 5 - LatAmOil Week 44 2020

LatAmOil COMMENTARY LatAmOil

Two years ago, he explained, ExxonMobil and He also noted that the break-even price for
the other shareholders estimated Stabroek’s the three sections of Stabroek that have been
reserves at around 4bn boe, large enough to sup- green-lighted for development was $25-35 per
port the deployment of five floating production, barrel of Brent crude. These fields are “world-
storage and off-loading (FPSO) vessels capable class by any measure,” he remarked.
of extracting up to 750,000 barrels per day (bpd).
But now that the estimate is higher, they may Gas-to-power talks
deploy as many as 10 FPSOs in all, he said. The CEO was speaking the day before Guya-
Under these circumstances, “we wanted nese government officials revealed that they
Vice-President Bharrat Jagdeo told the press “
people to have an update on potential number were in negotiations with ExxonMobil and the
of ships we could be running,” Hess said. He did other members of the Stabroek consortium on
not say exactly how the new resource estimate the price of associated gas that will be used for
had affected production forecasts, but he did power generation. ExxonMobil and
state that the partners expected to see Stabroek’s
production levels reach 750,000 bpd in 2026. that the negotiations concerned future deliveries its partners
of gas from the Liza field to a 300-MW thermal expect to see
Production outlook power plant (TPP) that will be built onshore in
It is not yet clear exactly how they will reach that Guyana. He did not divulge any details of the Stabroek’s oil
milestone. pricing discussions, but he did say that the TPP
Thus far, ExxonMobil has only made final would be used to generate electricity for indus- production levels
investment decisions (FIDs) on three sections trial facilities. The project is certain to benefit the
of the block – Liza-1, which came on stream in country, as it will make more electricity available reach 750,000
December 2019; Liza-2, which is due to begin at lower prices, he commented. bpd in 2026
production in early 2022, and Payara, which will According to Natural Resources Minister
achieve first oil sometime in 2024. The group is Vickram Bharrat, Guyana’s government hopes
using the Liza Destiny FPSO to develop Liza-1, to start work on the gas-to-power scheme in
which is currently yielding around 100,000 bpd the near future. ExxonMobil and its partners
and will see output peak at 120,000 bpd, and will pump associated gas from Liza to shore via
it will deploy two more FPSOs at Liza-2 and a 160-km pipeline, and officials in Georgetown
Payara, which will peak at 220,000 bpd each. aim to decide where this link will make landfall
Together, these three vessels will be able to before the end of the year, he said. Work on the
extract 560,000 bpd. As such, the partners will pipeline can then begin in 2021, he added, with-
need to bring another section of the block online out saying when construction might be finished.
to reach their goal of 750,000 bpd by 2026. Hess Bharrat went on to say that the gas-to-power
did not indicate which section might be chosen, (GTP) project was being overseen by a gov-
but he did mention that the next exploration ernment commission. This body “will decide
drilling target at Stabroek was the Hassa field. whether we will do a private/public partnership
The partners are on track to spud the Hassa-1 (PPP) or [a] build-own-operate-and-transfer
well in late December and hope to complete it in (BOOT) arrangement, or whether government
the first quarter of 2021, he said. will fund it totally,” he stated.

Liza Destiny FPSO The president visited northern Mexico at the weekend (Photo: ExxonMobil)

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