The ramp-up of ExxonMobil’s Payara project remains unmatched in Guyana’s offshore oil history, even as more developments come on stream. Wood Mackenzie’s Principal Analyst Luiz Hayum described the startup of the Prosperity FPSO at Payara as setting an industry benchmark.
Production started in November 2022 and hit 220,000 barrels per day (b/d) just two months later.
That ramp-up was three months ahead of schedule. Prosperity reached 101,000 b/d in 16 days, outpacing Liza Unity’s 68,000 b/d over a similar period. Liza Destiny took six months to get to 100,000 b/d.
Background flaring was also achieved faster than ever before, just 39 days after startup.
SBM Offshore built and operates all three FPSOs, Liza Destiny, Liza Unity, and Prosperity.
Though Payara had a longer lead time, seven months from FPSO arrival to first oil, its higher complexity, including more development wells, did not slow performance after startup.
The Liza Destiny FPSO started in December 2019, reaching design capacity of 120,000 b/d in five months. It was only optimized to 150,000 b/d two years later. Liza Unity started in February 2022. It took five months to reach 220,000 b/d and hit 250,000 b/d eight months after that.
In contrast, Prosperity achieved its design capacity in two months and hit 250,000 b/d in just six.
ONE GUYANA, the FPSO for Yellowtail, arrived in April. Production is expected to begin in August. A four-month window from arrival to first oil would mirror the timelines for Liza 1 and 2. The performance of Prosperity sets a new bar, and with Yellowtail next in line, ExxonMobil still has time to match or exceed it.
Yellowtail is ExxonMobil’s fourth project in the Stabroek Block. The company holds a 45% stake in the block, with Hess at 30% and China’s CNOOC at 25%.
