Guyana Oil and Gas News

With a production target already surpassing the 120,000 barrels per day forecast, Guyana will this year see heightened oil and gas activity as Stabroek Block partner, Hess, yesterday remained bullish on operations here and announced a number of developmental plans this year for its “growth and cash engine”.

Hess Corporation, Exxon’s partner in the Stabroek Block, yesterday assigned a huge portion of its 2021 exploration and production budget to Guyana citing the attractive breakeven oil price here of between US$25 and US$35 per barrel.

While he supports gas from Exxon’s wells being brought onshore for domestic use, former Director of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Dr Vincent Adams says that a rigid Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) must be undertaken and he called on the public to “actively participate” when it is initiated.

Introduction As pointed out in the conclusion of last week’s column, today’s will wrap-up my current efforts to interrogate the IDB report on Guyana’s Oil Opportunity and its estimation of likely Government of Guyana (GoG) revenues.

The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on Friday reported that the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has begun a probe of ExxonMobil after an employee alleged that the oil company overvalued one of its key assets in the Permian Basin.

Hassa-1, ExxonMobil’s latest exploration well, in the offshore Stabroek Block, has come up dry and the company yesterday announced that it encountered hydrocarbons at other intervals and will be assessing its data.

The Liza Unity Floating Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) oil platform, which is under construction in Singapore, is on track for departure to the Liza field in the Stabroek block offshore Guyana later this year.

The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) today reported that the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has begun a probe of ExxonMobil after an employee alleged that the oil company overvalued one of its key assets in the Permian Basin.

Local companies, Denmor Garments Manufacturers Inc and Caribbean Clothing Company Ltd have secured contracts to manufacture  two thousand coveralls for workers in Singapore who are constructing what will be the third oil production platform here.

Citing the need to step up the fight against climate change, anti-corruption group Global Witness today withdrew an explosive report it had issued on Guyana last year which said that ExxonMobil’s exploitative deal had cost the country as much as US$55b.

The Private Sector Commission (PSC) has thrown its support behind the proposed Wales gas to shore project as the organisation believes that the benefits to this country will far outweigh any counter arguments.

A local oil and gas association that had been founded in a blaze of publicity in October 2016 is no longer functioning.

The natural gas-to-shore facility which the Irfaan Ali-led PPP/C government hopes to deliver by 2023 as a spinoff from oil extraction will land at Wales, West Bank Demerara, government yesterday announced.

At a price of close to US$49.50 per barrel of oil, Guyana has received its fourth one million barrels of oil scheduled for this year and will get its first lift for 2021 in February next year, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo yesterday confirmed.

Introduction To round off my evaluation of Guyana’s emergent oil and gas sector in its very first year, I shall report in coming columns on the Inter-American Development Bank’s (IDB) Technical Note, IDB-TN-1994, published August, 2020 and entitled, ‘Traversing a Slippery Slope: Guyana’s Oil Opportunity.’

The Private Sector Commission (PSC) and the Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association (GMSA) in a joint statement today said that they look forward to local businesses being given opportunities to participate in the oil and gas value chain considering that the sector is poised for significant growth in the coming years.  

The controversial former Canadian politician Alison Redford has been hired again by the Government of Guyana for more work in the petroleum sector.

A new investment firm is taking aim at US energy giant Exxon Mobil Corp, pressing it to reinvent itself by focusing more on clean energy to improve its financial performance.

The Trump administration  yesterday added China’s oil giant CNOOC, ExxonMobil’s partner  in Guyana’s offshore Stabroek Block to a blacklist of alleged Chinese military companies, according to Reuters.

ExxonMobil on Monday disclosed that it will write down the value of North and South American natural gas fields by a staggering US$17 billion to US$20 billion according to a Bloomberg report.