Guyana to ship second million barrels of oil this month
- production to reach 120,000 barrels per day in June
Guyana’s second lift of approximately one million barrels of crude is projected for the third week of May 2020 from the Liza 1 field on the Stabroek Block, offshore Guyana, according to Director of the Department of Energy, Dr Mark Bynoe.
Guyana’s first three lifts of crude are sold to Shell Western Supply and Trading Limited –a member of the Royal Dutch Shell group of companies –and the country received US$55M for its first shipment sold in February.
During a virtual media conference on Monday, Dr Bynoe said there is no guarantee on the price for the second million barrels of oil as it will be sold based on the oil price at the time.
“…each cargo will be paid for based on what we call dated Brent so ten days after it’s been laden –and these are working days –the average price will be calculated and that’s what will be paid for the cargo,” he explained.
To date, the Liza 1 field has produced over eight million barrels of oil, with average daily production of between 75 – 80,000 barrels per day, Dr Bynoe said.
The 120,000 barrels of oil per day level of production is now expected in early June.
“We’ve had some teething problems during the commissioning phase and thus we have had some issues with ramping up initially,” the Energy Director said.
Guyana’s third lift is set for July.
He noted that travel restrictions resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic has posed a challenge to operators when it comes to changing over of its crews offshore as most international travel remains curtailed.
From his most recent estimate, Dr Bynoe said workers employed with ExxonMobil alone come from 45 different destinations.
“Whether it be CGX, REpsol, EEPGL, the issue of having to change out their workforce given that we all know that they’re supposed to be working 28 days on ,28 days off. With airports being closed off, some of these workers are coming from different parts of the world.”
Recently, Exxon chartered a flight from British Airways on April 28 to transport workers of the Liza Destiny Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) Vessel to the UK and bring in change over workers.
To be able to do this, the Ministry of Public Health had to inspect Exxon’s quarantine facility where the workers will stay for 14 days after arriving in Guyana. This protocol also safeguards offshore activities from the spread of COVID-19.
