Guyana Oil and Gas News

Admitting that it blundered on critical aspects of the petroleum sector, the opposition yesterday offered support to the government for a united stand in dealing with ExxonMobil to correct deficiencies and it also launched a scorching attack on plans for a gas to shore project at Wales.

(Reuters) – Exxon Mobil Corp’s global oil and gas reserves tumbled by a third last year as the COVID-19 pandemic slammed global oil prices and demand, the company said yesterday.

ExxonMobil yesterday said that the reassembly of the Liza Destiny oil platform’s flash gas compressor has been completed and is now being prepared for testing at the MAN Energy Solutions workshop in Germany.

Former Executive Director of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Dr Vincent Adams on Saturday said ExxonMobil only needs to cut back oil production by 15,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd) from its last given figures of 120,000 bpd in order to bring flaring into compliance with the Liza-1 permit.

Buxo Guyana Incorporated (BGI) is seeking to prequalify persons from Guyana with relevant experience in offshore drilling activities, maritime service and administration to fill over 70 vacancies at the company.

Introduction Table 1 shows various estimated GDP growth rates data for Guyana in 2020.

-says key insurance document still to be signed The former Executive Director of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Dr.

Engineers working on Exxon’s oil platform compressor which malfunctioned again last month are considering technical recommendations for upgrades, as flaring offshore continues and the company again assured all was being done to swiftly remedy the issue.

Frontera Energy Corporation yesterday disclosed that a total of 32 drill prospects have been identified in the offshore Corentyne and Demerara blocks.

ExxonMobil yesterday confirmed that the third stage flash gas compressor that malfunctioned recently and other key parts from the offshore Liza Destiny Floating Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) oil platform have arrived in Germany and are being disassembled for inspection and assessment. 

More than five years after bursting into the global oil & gas spotlight following the discovery by a consortium led by the US oil giant ExxonMobil of an excess of 8 billion barrels of oil off the country’s coast, the Guyanese populace as a whole still know shockingly little about the industry as a whole or about when or how the country will be impacted by the returns from a sector which we are told will remove the country from the condition of impoverishment in which it has been caught fast for more than half a century.

The Liza-1 Environmental Permit does not include the 14 billion cubic feet flaring allowance that government says ExxonMobil has used to  justify its emissions but makes it clear to the company that there should not be routine flaring and that there should be provision for spares and plant-turn down protocols if there are breakdowns on its production platform (FPSO).

Government has disclosed that a seeming mix-up has stalled the completion of the audit of the pre-contract costs for ExxonMobil,and its partners in the Stabroek Block as the United Kingdom firm hired to undertake the audit submitted its final report without ever providing a draft and they have been written to in order to correct this.

While finally moving to explain the government’s rationale for the selection of Wales, West Bank Demerara as the site of an ambitious gas-to-shore project, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo yesterday announced plans for the associated Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and other critical studies to be undertaken this year and promised that all details will be made public.

With flaring offshore estimated to reach 14 billion cubic feet (cu ft) of gas by the time ExxonMobil expects the problem with its compressor is likely to be resolved – hopefully in April of this year –  government yesterday said that it is “hamstrung” in instituting penalties since the company has argued that it is within the limit allowed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ExxonMobil, Hess and CNOOC Limited, co-venturers in offshore oil development in the Stabroek Block, today announced the formation of the Greater Guyana Initiative, a 10-year commitment of more than G$20 billion (US$100 million) to significantly expand capacity building efforts and promote sustainable economic development in Guyana.

Following the recent gas compressor malfunction on the offshore Liza Destiny platform, President of ExxonMobil Guyana Alistair Routledge yesterday disclosed that oil production has been pared to 120,000 barrels per day (bpd) – its previously stated maximum capacity – while gas flaring has increased to 16 million cubic feet per day.

Introduction In today’s column I begin my appraisal of revealed adverse impacts of the 2020 global general crisis, as I have specified this term and its footprints, on the performance of Guyana’s infant oil and gas sector last year and going forward into the future.

Attorney Melinda Janki had last year urged the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) not to allow ExxonMobil and its partners to produce higher than 120,000 barrels of oil per day from the Liza-1 well as that would be going beyond its design limits and would be dangerous.

While no definitive timeline has been provided by ExxonMobil as to when the defective seal on the gas compressor on the Liza Destiny Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel will be fixed, Minister of Natural Resources Vickram Bharrat yesterday said they have asked the oil company to source a replacement seal as soon as possible.