Today marks one year since Guyana began producing oil. ExxonMobil Guyana said it is celebrating this significant milestone as the Liza Destiny floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel reached full capacity of 120,000 barrels of oil per day earlier this month and successfully commissioned the gas injection system.
The company began production less than five years after the first discovery of hydrocarbons, which is well ahead of the industry average for deepwater developments.
“We are incredibly proud of the tremendous work of our team in overcoming the challenges of the past year and safely bringing us to where we are today,” said ExxonMobil Guyana President Alistair Routledge. “This resilient group, which includes a growing number of Guyanese professionals, continues to persevere through the COVID-19 pandemic and initial startup challenges to deliver a world-class project.”
The company said more than six thousand personnel have been transferred offshore without a safety incident or case of COVID-19 on the offshore facilities. Overall, the Liza Destiny FPSO team has achieved one year and more than one million hours of work without a recordable safety incident.
“ExxonMobil Guyana is committed to the responsible development of the country’s natural resources and will not utilize routine flaring during our operations,” Routledge said. “We are disappointed by the number of equipment issues experienced and that, because of these issues and COVID-19, commissioning of the gas injection system took longer than originally projected. We took significant steps to limit flaring and are incorporating lessons learned for future projects.”
Investment in the local economy continues to increase as the Liza Phase Two and Payara projects advance. More than 2,100 Guyanese are now supporting activities on and offshore. ExxonMobil and its key contractors have spent over GY $69 billion with more than 700 local companies since 2015.
The Liza and Payara developments are in the Stabroek Block, operated by ExxonMobil affiliate Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited which holds a 45 percent interest in the Block. Hess Guyana Exploration Ltd. holds 30 percent interest and CNOOC Petroleum Guyana Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of CNOOC Limited, holds 25 percent interest.
