The US-based oil giant, ExxonMobil Tuesday announced it has started development drilling offshore.
Production start-up scheduled for 2020
In a statement, the company said the Liza Phase 1 development continues to rapidly progress and development drilling began in May for the first of 17 wells planned for Phase 1, laying the foundation for production start-up in 2020. It also said its co-ventures have so far discovered estimated recoverable resources of more than 3.2 billion oil-equivalent barrels on the Stabroek Block.
President of ExxonMobil Development Company, Liam Mallon, said the work being done in Guyana is remarkable. “We are well on our way to producing oil less than five years after our first discovery, which is well ahead of the industry average for similar projects. The Liza development and future projects will provide significant economic benefits to Guyana,” he said.
Liza Phase 1 is expected to generate over seven billion US dollars in royalty and profit oil revenues for Guyana over the life of the project.
The oil company said additional benefits will accrue from other development projects now being planned. Liza Phase 1 involves the conversion of an oil tanker into a floating, production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel named Liza Destiny, along with four undersea drill centers with 17 production wells. Construction of the FPSO and subsea equipment is under way in more than a dozen countries.
ExxonMobil said Liza Destiny will have a production capacity of 120,000 barrels of oil per day and that a second FPSO with a capacity of 220,000 barrels per day is being planned as part of the Liza Phase 2 development, while a third is under consideration for the Payara development.
Combined production of 5000,000 barrels per day
It said that together, these three developments will produce more than 500,000 barrels of oil per day.
The Stabroek Block is 6.6 million acres. Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited is operator and holds 45 per cent interest. Hess Guyana Exploration Ltd. holds 30 percent interest and CNOOC Nexen Petroleum Guyana Limited holds 25 percent interest.
