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ExxonMobil hit second highest production output in April
Guyana’s third FPSO, Prosperity
Kaieteur News – Since oil production commenced in the Stabroek Block in 2019, ExxonMobil Guyana Limited (EMGL) has been pushing the safety limits on each of the Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessels.
In April this year, the company reached its second highest production output in the history of the country. Exxon produced a combined total of 649,000 barrels of crude oil on April 28. The highest daily production was recorded on March 22, when the company pushed production to a whopping 651,000 barrels.
This information is available on the Data Centre on the Ministry of Natural Resources Petroleum Management website.
According to the production data, the new FPSO, Prosperity also recorded its highest output last month since startup in November 2023. The vessel was designed to produce up to 220,000 barrels per day (bpd) however; Exxon pushed the vessel to pump 236,000 barrels on April 15, 2024.
The other two projects in operation also continued to produce above initial design capacity. Liza Destiny, the country’s first FPSO produced an average 160,000 bpd in April- 40,000 bpd above the vessel’s design capacity of 120,000 bpd. Similarly, the second FPSO, Liza Unity produced an average 250,000 bdp even though the vessel was safely designed to produce 220,000 bpd.
Vice President, Bharrat Jagdeo said at a press conference this month that the ramping up of oil production beyond the safe operating limits is being done safely. The process according to him was analyzed by the technical staff of both the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Ministry of Natural Resources.
Experts previously warned however that the risk of an oil spill significantly increases with the accelerated production activities.
It was also recently revealed that the US$2B oil spill guarantee provided by the Stabroek Block Co-Venturers does not cover the ramping up of oil production.
The affiliate company guarantee, seen by this newspaper, makes it explicit “…the Operator is permitted to carry out the activities authorised by the Environmental Permits in accordance with their respective terms and conditions.”
The Environmental Permits granted by the EPA were approved based on EIAs conducted by Exxon. These documents outline the company’s plans to produce oil at a specific capacity and assess the damage of an oil spill accordingly. The FPSOs were also designed to produce crude oil in accordance with the EIAs.
VP Jagdeo when asked if government considered this in granting the company’s approval to breach the safety limits said he has requested a full report from the technical staff in this regard.
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