Latest update May 22nd, 2026 12:38 AM
Oil production paused at Liza Two to hookup gas pipeline
Guyana’s second FPSO, the Liza Unity
…as project documents still to be made public
Kaieteur News – ExxonMobil Guyana Limited (EMGL) has paused oil production at the country’s second Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel in the Stabroek Block, the Liza Unity, to facilitate the tie-in of infrastructure to transport gas onshore.
The Government of Guyana (GoG) plans to utilize about 50 million standard cubic feet (MSCFD) of gas per day to generate 300 megawatts of electricity to power the national grid. Gas will be piped to shore from two projects, the Liza One and Liza Two.
ExxonMobil is constructing the 12-inch pipeline that will run approximately 220 kilometers from the FPSOs offshore to the Wales Development Site, West Bank Demerara. The company’s Media Advisor, Kwesi Isles on Monday told Kaieteur News in an invited comment that works on the Liza Unity vessel commenced since the first week in July.
He said that the company was nearing completion with the tie-in activities on that FPSO. Notably, ExxonMobil was expected to conduct further debottlenecking on the Liza Unity FPSO during the shut-down period to allow for further ramping up of production. Isles could not confirm whether these activities were ongoing or completed.
The Media Advisor would only say, “The activities scheduled for the shutdown are progressing according to plan, and we aim to restart production soon.”
Upon completion of the works on the Liza Unity FPSO, Exxon will conduct similar works to hook up the pipeline on the Liza Destiny platform.
Each vessel was expected to shut down production activities for two weeks to facilitate tie-in of the pipeline.
EMGL’s GTE Project Manager, Friedrich Krispin previously explained the process to Kaieteur News. “We are starting that process at the beginning of July, that’s a process that takes about a couple weeks per FPSO and there’s a period in between that you are moving all of your equipment from one FPSO to the other. In the meantime, we are also building subsea structures on the bottom of the FPSOs where all these two lines connect together and connect onto the pipeline that’s gonna bring the gas onshore,” he said.
The offshore works, according to Krispin is expected to be completed in the first half of August. The Project Manager said oil production will continue for most of the connection phase, however the facilities will be shut down for about 10 days.
“What happens is, you take some time to kind of bring down production and then there’s a period, a short period, usually about 10 days per FPSO where you are completely down,” he said.
While Exxon progresses with the construction of the pipeline, the Government of Guyana is yet to make key documents public, relative to the massive gas project being developed.
Notably, the GTE project is Guyana’s single largest financial project ever pursued in the country’s history. Despite this however, the project does not have a feasibility study which demonstrates how viable the initiative is.
The pipeline is expected to cost the country some US$1B but to date, there is no Final Investment Decision in that regard. Additionally, the Natural Gas Liquid (NGL) facility and power plant are expected to cost another US$759M.
Government is upgrading the transmission and distribution network to support the project and has been tasked with compensating citizens along the pipeline route for their lands. A new control center to manage the power project is also to be constructed, increasing the cost of the gas project.
Despite efforts by the Opposition and media for agreements relative to the GTE project to be laid in the National Assembly, government continues to delay the release of the documents sparking further concerns about the project.
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