The President of ExxonMobil Upstream Oil and Gas Company, Liam Mallon has indicated that the U.S oil giant is looking to ramp up production in Guyana to 400,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd) soon, with a plan to take production further up to 600,000 barrels per day by the end of the year.
Currently, ExxonMobil is producing 380,000 bpd offshore Guyana.
“Today, offshore, we have two state-of-the-art Flooding, Production and Storage vessels, the Destiny and the Unity, producing 380,000 barrels a day with exceptional, exceptional safety and reliability. By the way, that’s 40,000 barrels a day above the design capacity. And we’re further de-bottlenecking…we think we could reach 400,000 barrels a day here in the foreseeable future,” Mr Mallon said on Tuesday.
With the third development offshore to start-up later this year, the country is expected to produce an additional 220 barrels of oil per day using the Prosperity FPSO vessel.
In total, production is anticipated to peak at 600,000 barrels of oil per day by the end of this year.
With both the Government and ExxonMobil facing increasing pressures to amend the fiscal terms embedded in the 2016 Production Sharing Agreement (PSA), Mr Mallon reminded the nation of the huge risks the company took when it injected billions of dollars into its local operations to produce oil at a time when the world was faced with a global pandemic and economies were on the decline.
He said sadly, the invasion of Ukraine has provided a powerful and tragic reminder of how quickly energy markets can be disrupted.
“During the depths of the pandemic when others were scaling back, ExxonMobil and its co-ventures here in Guyana leaned in and continued investing in development, not only here in Guyana, but globally, and helped Guyana become an oil exporter by 2020. And today, a major new energy player,” he said.
Mr Mallon said what ExxonMobil and its co-ventures have been able to achieved in Guyana is absolutely unique.
It was explained that in under five years, the companies moved from making the first discovery Offshore Guyana in the Stabroek Block in 2015 to first oil in December, 2019. After more than 30 discoveries, the country’s recoverable resource in the Stabroek Block alone is estimated to be nearly 11 billion oil-equivalent barrels.
“In total, we anticipate having six projects online with a capacity of more than 1.2 million barrels a day by the end of 2027. But it’s not just about pace. This story is way beyond pace. It’s also about developing responsibly, and no more the award, the second FPSO on the Stabroek Block – the Unity – was the first FPSO in the world, to be awarded the sustain one notation from the American Bureau of Shipping in recognition of its sustainable design and operating procedures,” Mr Mallon said.
He said regardless of one’s view, Oil and Gas will remain a significant part of the energy mix for decades, and ExxonMobil will continue to strike a balance between production and safeguarding the environment even as it continues to contribute to the social and economic progress of communities across the country.
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