All repairs to the Liza Destiny FPSO flash gas compressor have been completed at the MAN Energy Solutions workshop in Germany and the equipment is expected to be returned to Guyana by the end of the month.
“The compressor has completed all of its repairs, it has been tested on the test bench within MAN in Germany and the mechanical run test was successful and we reviewed the data and the MAN engineers, the SBM engineers and overselves; we’ve accepted the test results and the machine is getting ready to make its way back to Guyana,” ExxonMobil Guyana Production Manager, Mike Ryan told reporters at a media briefing on Thursday.
The gas compressor had encountered difficulties on the Liza Destiny FPSO during oil production operations on January 27.
“The original target that we had estimated was from the failure at the end of January was approximately 8 weeks and we’re on track for that to have the equipment back in Guyana installed and started up by the end of March,” Ryan said.
He also explained that the engineers have completed repairs on the discharge silencer on the outer shell and the welding of a new orifice plate internally.
“The inlet silencer is ready to go, so good progress there, getting ready to send the units back to Guyana. In addition to that we’ve identified all of the key resources needed to help us with our installation and start up and monitoring of the machine offshore,” he stated.
Oil production is currently ongoing at the rate of 120,000 barrels per day and Ryan said all efforts are being made to keep the flare levels as low as possible.
“We’ve communicated before that we’re at 120,000 barrels a day and maintaining flare as low as we can,” he said, pointing out that over the last few days the levels have been around 15 mcf but the objective is to return to pilot flaring soon.
President of ExxonMobil Guyana Alistair Routledge said the gas compressor issue has been frustrating for the company and it has been working around the clock to have the matter resolved.
“This is certainly not how we expect to operate,” he said. “We continue to work 24/7 to get the resolution of the issues so we will have a long-term, highly efficient, reliable, dependable and environmentally sound operation on the Destiny and future projects too.”
In addition to the repairs on the existing equipment, an order has been placed for a new flash gas compressor which will be available closer to the end of the year, given the complex nature of the equipment.
