The Guyana Government’s approval of the 220,000 barrels per day Payara Development Project on Wednesday was a critical step in ensuring that a window of opportunity to get the project going without further delays, was met.
Neil Chapman, Senior Vice President of ExxonMobil Corporation, had said at the end of July the company remained committed to doing everything it can to keep the project on schedule and had pointed out that September provided a crucial window of opportunity to do so.
“Everything we and the partners can do to progress Payara on schedule, we are doing and we’ve done,” he said, further pointing out, “It’s very important that we get this development plan so that we can FID in the September time frame. There are weather conditions that if you…miss a certain window, it could result in delay of some months, and that’s what we’re trying to work towards.”
Speaking at the Barclays CEO Energy-Power Conference in New York last month, Greg Hill, President and Chief Operating Officer of Hess Corporation, said the Stabroek consortium has been putting the necessary framework in place to immediately move forward on approval of Payara.
“… there are three open-water campaigns on Payara. It’s got a very extensive subsea architecture to it,” Hill pointed out. “So, you need three weather windows to get a lot of that work done,” he said, pointing out that imminent approval could put the project “fully back on track.”
The project includes ten drill centers along with up to 41 wells, including 20 production and 21 injection wells.
The Payara development was initially expected to be sanctioned last year but encountered government approval challenges for several months and was further delayed due to an elections crisis in the South American country that lasted for five months this year.
