Exxon next month to begin pumping from 2nd Guyana oil platform

(Reuters) Exxon Mobil Corp. next month plans to start production at its second oil platform in Guyana, a person familiar with the matter said on Tuesday.

Guyana is one of Exxon’s top bets for production growth. Its recent discoveries are expected to drive recoverable oil and gas volumes beyond 10 billion barrels, the person said.

The second vessel, Liza Unity, will almost triple the South American country’s production this year to 340,000 barrels of oil and gas per day from about 120,000 bpd. Exxon and partners control all output in the nascent oil nation, where production started in 2019.

An Exxon-led consortium operates the Stabroek block off the coast of Guyana. Exxon is the operator with a 45% stake while U.S. oil company Hess Corp (HES.N) owns a 30% stake and China’s CNOOC Ltd holds 25%.

The new volume estimate will incorporate oil and gas from Fangtooth-1 and Lau Lau-1 wells, both made public earlier this month. In all, the consortium has disclosed 28 significant discoveries in the country.

Hess, which releases fourth quarter financial results on Wednesday, has said it expects the Stabroek block to produce 1 million barrels per day of oil and gas in Guyana by 2027. That’s about twice Exxon’s production in the U.S. Permian basin.

A third floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel, named Prosperity, is under construction and expected to deliver its first oil in 2024. The consortium plans to deploy between seven and 10 platforms in Guyana, officials have said.