Exxon granted production license as Guyana inches towards becoming major oil player

The Ministry explained that following the approval of the Production Licence and environmental permit, it is expected that ExxonMobil and co-venturers Nexen and Hess will make a final investment decision on the Liza Phase 1 development.

Exxon granted production license as Guyana inches towards becoming major oil player

Plans to commence oil production locally by 2020 are on schedule with the Government approving the Liza Phase 1 development plan by ExxonMobil and granting the company a production license for the Liza field.

This was announced by the Ministry of Natural Resources in a statement to the press on Thursday evening.

With production expected to start by 2020, the government, through the Ministry, noted that “this is an important milestone towards the first phase of oil production at the Liza field offshore Guyana.”

The Ministry explained that following the approval of the Production Licence and environmental permit, it is expected that ExxonMobil and co-venturers Nexen and Hess will make a final investment decision on the Liza Phase 1 development.

In a separate process, it was announced that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued the Liza field environmental permit on June 1 of this year. According to the Ministry, this environmental permit ensures that the environment is protected through the lifecycle of the project.

The Liza Phase 1 development plan includes completion of a floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel designed to produce up to 120,000 barrels of oil per day.

ExxonMobil announced its discovery of significant deposits of oil reserves just offshore Guyana, in 2015. Several other locations were scouted and positive results have since been forthcoming. ExxonMobil has said that the estimate discovery is between 800 million to 1.4 billion barrels of oil. The country will benefit from a 50% profit, and an additional 2% of royalties.

Government has since hired experts, both locally and overseas, to assist in the preparation process, given the fact that these are virgin territories for the country. Just today the Petroleum Commission bill was read for the first time in the National Assembly, while several other oil and gas legislation are expected to be presented in the House before production commences.

 

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