HOUSTON, Texas — Guyana’s offshore oil sector is expanding at a pace that is beginning to rival subsea activity levels in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, according to TechnipFMC’s Onshore Operations Director Omon Dibua.
Speaking Tuesday at the Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) in Houston, Dibua pointed to the rapid increase in subsea “Christmas trees” offshore Guyana as one of the clearest signs of how quickly the country’s oil industry has grown since first production started less than six years ago.
A Christmas tree is a system of valves and controls installed on subsea wells to regulate the flow of oil and gas from the reservoir to production facilities.
“We started operating, there was a couple of Christmas trees,” Dibua said during a panel discussion on Guyana’s offshore transformation. “Now we are to over 150 Christmas trees.”
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The systems form part of the subsea infrastructure connecting wells on the seabed to floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessels operating offshore.
Guyana currently has four FPSOs producing in the Stabroek Block — Liza Destiny, Liza Unity, Prosperity and ONE GUYANA — with additional developments expected to push production capacity beyond 1.7 million barrels per day by 2030.
Dibua said the scale of subsea deployment offshore Guyana is now approaching activity levels in one of the world’s largest deepwater provinces.
“I don’t know how many we have in the Gulf of Mexico right now, but we’re getting close to that number,” he stated.
The TechnipFMC executive said supporting that level of offshore expansion has created major logistical demands inside Guyana, particularly for transporting subsea equipment.
“To put in perspective, a Christmas tree, on average, weighs about 100,000 pounds,” Dibua explained.
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According to Dibua, moving equipment of that size through Guyana’s road network often requires additional preparation because of heavy rainfall and road conditions.
“Pretty much every time we have to ship trees, we have to pour the gravel and smooth it out,” he said.
Some equipment movements are carried out after midnight to reduce traffic disruptions and transportation risks.
“You can’t transport this equipment during the day,” Dibua noted.
He said the rapid offshore buildout has also increased the need for local partnerships and supply chain support as operators expand activity in Guyana.
TechnipFMC established operations in Guyana after the first Stabroek Block developments moved into production. The company provides subsea systems and related services supporting offshore operations.
