Page 10 - LatAmOil Week 34 2022

LatAmOil GUYANA LatAmOil

Some observers have called for excluding they have the necessary capabilities and can
the super-major – which is already operating secure the financing necessary to carry out offer
Stabroek, the block that is home to the country’s exploration and development, he said.
only producing oilfields – on the grounds that its “I don’t know what [the] cabinet decision
participation could inhibit competition. Jagdeo would be, but I would say let’s give them a
contended, however, that barring ExxonMobil chance,” the vice president was quoted as saying
from the auctions might make the contests less by OilNOW.gy.
attractive to other IOCs. In the meantime, Jagdeo said, Guyana’s gov-
He further stated that he did believe there ernment is conducting a review of the country’s
would be any obstacles in principle to local 1986 Petroleum Act. It is doing so with the goal
companies’ participation in the auctions. Guya- of ensuring that the current legal regime can
nese companies should be given the appropriate accommodate the type of bidding contest that
opportunities if they want to demonstrate that Georgetown is considering. ™

Guyana’s oil output hits new record high

GUYANA saw crude oil production levels rise operate the former FPSO at more than 30,000
to a new high of 386,540 barrels per day (bpd) bpd above its nameplate capacity after carrying
on July 29, according to data posted on a website out debottlenecking operations earlier this year.
maintained by the country’s Ministry of Natu- Guyana’s MNR set up the Petroleum Man-
ral Resources (MNR) as part of the Petroleum agement Programme website in a bid to make
Management Programme. This was the highest information on the country’s oil production
daily output figure reported since Guyana began readily available to the public. Bobby Gossai Jr.,
commercial oil production in December 2019. the senior petroleum co-ordinator for the min-
More than 60% of the total volume of oil istry, told OilNOW.gy on August 22 that the site
produced on July 29 came from the Liza-2 field, published multiple types of data, in contrast to
where development operations are being sup- media reports alleging that the numbers were
ported by the Liza Unity floating production, not being disclosed.
storage and off-loading (FPSO) vessel. The “We had this website active since the middle
remaining volumes came from Liza-1, where of last year, and it is dedicated to capturing all of
development operations are being supported the information for the sector,” he said. “If you
by the Liza Destiny FPSO. (Both sites lie within visit the website, there is a tab titled Data Cen-
Stabroek, an offshore block assigned to the US tre [that] allows users to see – weekly, monthly,
super-major ExxonMobil.) yearly, and historically – data pertaining to
The FPSOs are currently operating above produced water that is injected; gas flared, used
their design capacity, as the Liza Destiny was for operations or re-injected and, importantly,
built to handle 120,000 bpd and the Liza Unity oil produced from both production platforms
220,000 bpd. ExxonMobil has been able to [FPSOs].” ™

Screenshot of government’s oil production data in chart form (Image: petroleum.gov.gy/data-visualization)

P10 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 34 24•August•2022