ExxonMobil’s Payara project continues to hold the record for the fastest production ramp-up among all oil developments in Guyana’s offshore Stabroek Block.
Production from the Prosperity floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel began in November 2022 and hit 220,000 barrels per day (b/d) just two months later, three months ahead of schedule. That achievement remains unmatched in the country’s offshore history.
Prosperity reached 101,000 b/d in 16 days, outpacing Liza Unity’s 68,000 b/d over the same period. The first FPSO, Liza Destiny, took six months to reach 100,000 b/d.
Background flaring was also completed in record time, just 39 days after startup. Despite a longer pre-production phase of seven months from FPSO arrival to first oil, Payara’s higher complexity, including more development wells, did not slow performance once operations began.
SBM Offshore built and operates all four of ExxonMobil’s FPSOs in Guyana: Liza Destiny, Liza Unity, Prosperity, and ONE GUYANA.
Liza Destiny began producing in December 2019 and reached its design capacity of 120,000 b/d within five months. It was optimised to 150,000 b/d two years later. Liza Unity came online in February 2022, reaching 220,000 b/d in five months and achieving 250,000 b/d eight months later.
Prosperity, however, reached its design capacity in two months and hit 250,000 b/d in just six months, setting a new performance standard for the basin.
ExxonMobil’s fourth project, Yellowtail, marked first oil in August 2025. The ONE GUYANA FPSO reached peak production on November 12, only four months after startup.
With the ONE GUYANA now fully ramped up, Prosperity’s performance remains the benchmark ExxonMobil aims to match or surpass in future developments. The Payara field is estimated to hold around 600 million barrels of oil equivalent. The discovery well, Payara-1, encountered more than 95 feet (29 meters) of oil-bearing sandstone at a water depth of about 6,660 feet (2,030 meters). A final investment decision for the project was made in September 2020.
ExxonMobil holds a 45% operating interest in the Stabroek Block, alongside Hess Corporation (acquired by Chevron) (30%) and China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) (25%).
