After a successful start-up in February 2022 and a gradual production ramp-up in July, the Stabroek Block co-venturers are considering production optimisation measures on the Liza Unity FPSO in the fourth quarter of 2023.
Hess President and Chief Operating Officer, Greg Hill, said downtime has been included in its production guidance for Guyana. He said the expectation from debottlenecking could be a 10% upside, but noted that the capacity will ultimately be determined, depending on the vessel. The partners are still in the early stages of engineering this optimisation activity.
“You typically want a year of dynamic data before you engineer the project to understand where the pinch points are on the vessel,” the Hess President explained.
Production on the Liza Destiny was successfully optimised in 2022. The FPSO’s revised output is 140,000 barrels per day (bpd), up from the initial 120,000 bpd, though it has demonstrated capacity to sustain production over 150,000 bpd.
The Destiny and Unity vessels have combined nameplates of 360,000 bpd.
The partners are expected to pursue debottlenecking for each FPSO brought on at Stabroek. So far, there is a line of sight for six operating simultaneously by 2028, with production levels exceeding 1.2 million bpd. It is expected that around 10 FPSOs will be in operation on the block by the end of the decade.
ExxonMobil is the operator with a 45% stake. Hess owns 30% and CNOOC owns 25%.
