Drilling and development offshore Guyana were unaffected by an incident involving seismic acquisition vessels on Dec. 22, ExxonMobil Corp. said Dec. 26.
Two vessels operated by Petroleum Geo-Services ceased conducting 3D seismic data acquisition in the northwest portion of the Stabroek block offshore Guyana when approached by the Venezuela navy claiming a border breach. ExxonMobil said the acquisition of seismic data was being conducted under license from the government of Guyana in the country’s exclusive economic zone. The incident occurred more than 110 km from the Ranger discovery, the closest of 10 oil discoveries made by ExxonMobil in the southeastern part of the block (OGJ Online, Jan. 5, 2017).
Exploration and development drilling continue in the southeast area of the Stabroek block, ExxonMobil said. Activities related to the Liza Phase 1 development, which is expected to begin producing up to 120,000 b/d in early 2020, are also unaffected, the company said (OGJ Online, June 12, 2018).
ExxonMobil estimates there is potential for at least five floating production, storage, and offloading vessels on the block producing more than 750,000 b/d of oil by 2025.
Liza Phase 2 is expected to start production by mid-2022 (OGJ Online, Oct. 22, 2018). Pending government and regulatory approvals, project sanction is expected in next year’s first quarter and will use a second FPSO designed to produce up to 220,000 b/d. Sanctioning of a third development, Payara, is also expected in 2019 with start up as early as 2023.
Esso Exploration & Production Guyana Ltd. is operator with 45% interest. Hess Guyana Exploration Ltd. has 30% and CNOOC Nexen Petroleum Guyana Ltd. 25%.
