In seven years oil in Liza One and Liza Two will be drained

Sep 08, 2024 News

Minister of Natural Resources, Vickram Bharrat.

…20-year project life shortened as 40% of oil already pumped

Kaieteur News – The 20-year project life of the Liza One and Liza Two projects have been significantly reduced with almost half of the reserves at the fields already depleted.

This information was recently shared with Kaieteur News by the Ministry of Natural Resources. This newspaper had requested data on the amount of oil produced to date from the projects currently in operation.

Liza One, which commenced oil production in December 2019, has already produced close to 200 million barrels of oil (MBO). The Field Development Plan for that project however indicates that the project, operated by the Liza Destiny Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel, has a reserve of 452 MBO. This means that 44% of the reserves are already drained.

Similarly, at the Liza Two project, the Ministry reported that almost 200 MBO have been produced by Exxon since the commencement of production activities in February 2022. That field, according to the FDP holds about 570 MBO. Consequently, 35% of the reserves have already been produced by the company.

It could also be deduced that about 40% of the collective reserves at the two projects have been depleted.

Meanwhile, at the current rate of production, ExxonMobil could drain the remaining resources in just over seven years. Liza One, according to the Ministry of Natural Resources website is producing about 150,000 barrels per day while the Liza Two project is operating at a daily rate of approximately 250,000 barrels per day.

It should be noted that Minister of Natural Resources, Vickram Bharrat previously admitted that oil from the three projects currently in operation could be depleted ahead of the 20-year lifespan due to the optimization of production.

The Minister during a news conference assured that the ramped up oil production is being done safely by the operator of the Stabroek Block. He was however asked by this newspaper to explain how the optimization works could affect the 20-year estimated project life for each of the developments.

To this end, he said, “Yes it can finish before the 20 years or it can even go beyond because as a reservoir matures, you can get more out of it and then as we have more discoveries, we can add those wells to the existing development too.”

Bharrat pointed out that ramping up oil production has now become a trend in oil-producing states since this could prove more financially viable for a country- in this case, Guyana.

According to him, “Ramping up production and producing the oil in a reservoir at a faster time than you can is actually good for a country because it comes back to the window that is available for fossil fuel to survive and the price that will be available.”

Meanwhile, Chief Policymaker for the petroleum sector, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo’s position is that Guyana’s oil should be produced as fast as possible.

He said, “My own view is that we have a period in which oil would still be very relevant in the global mix of energy and we have a period but it is a window that is closing because of climate change.”

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