Guyana’s Liza Phase 2 Project and its accompanying Liza Unity production vessel are expected to undergo a series of maintenance and debottlenecking activities that will push production from 220,000 barrels of oil per day (bopd) to 250,000 bopd by year-end. This was revealed on April 26 by Hess Corporation’s Chief Operating Officer (COO), Greg Hill during an earnings call with shareholders.
This would lift the production of Liza 2 to be on par with the larger projects – Yellowtail and Uaru.
Hill was keen to note that the wells for the Stabroek Block, where Hess holds a 30% working interest, are “performing extremely well above expectations.”
Hill said the partners continue to see further upside in the subsurface performance as the wells continue production. The Hess official also lauded the work being executed by ExxonMobil affiliate and operator, Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL) alongside SBM Offshore which built the Liza Unity vessel. He said, “They are just doing an outstanding job of topsides reliability and also on the debottlenecking side.”
Hill recalled that Liza Phase 1 was debottlenecked from 120,000 bopd to the 140,000 barrels range. “It’s actually producing between 140,000 and 150,000 barrels, sort of in that range. And then if you look at Phase 2, it has a nameplate of 220,000 barrels. It’s on track to be debottlenecked towards 250,000 barrels by the end of the year,” the COO said.
Currently, the Liza Phase 2 project is already producing in the 230,000 bopd range, touching on some occasions, 240,000 bopd.
For the second quarter, Hill noted that the Liza project will undergo planned maintenance activities along with several of its fields in the Gulf of Mexico and at the North Malay Basin in Southeast Asia. As a result, Hess expects company-wide net production will average between 365,000 and 375,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day for the full year of 2023.
