To connect gas pipeline, Exxon to shut down FPSOs for two weeks

Production at two oil vessels offshore Guyana grind to a halt for two weeks each in the coming months so that a natural gas pipeline meant to bring gas onshore can be connected, ExxonMobil Guyana President Alistair Routledge said on Tuesday.

The Liza Destiny and Liza Unity Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessels will be shut down independently in July and August.

Routledge said one installation vessel is responsible for connecting the risers that will bring the natural gas produced in the giant Stabroek Block to a power plant and natural gas liquids plant at Wales, West Bank Demerara.

“That work is under detailed development and we’re anticipating July/ August to complete the shutdown,” Routledge told reporters at a press engagement at the company’s Kingston, Georgetown office, on Tuesday.

ExxonMobil is building the pipeline needed to bring the natural gas onshore. The onshore portion of the pipeline, Routledge said, is about 68 per cent complete; the offshore component is at about 70 per cent completion.

Some aspects of the overall Gas-to-Energy project, which is expected to slash local energy costs in half, are delayed but Guyanese officials maintain that the entire project should be completed by 2025.

Once the pipeline is built, Routledge said it will be kept secure until it is ready to transport natural gas to the 300-megawatt power plant at Wales.

Meanwhile, the company head also noted that some modifications, debottlenecking and planned maintenance will be done at the Liza Unity FPSO during its planned shut down. It is possible for the number of barrels of oil produced daily through this vessel to increase after those works are completed.

“… there is other work in that shutdown that will be beneficial to the production capacity,” Routledge said.

Currently, the vessel produces about 252,000 barrels of oil per day optimally.