Oil and Gas Guyana
Major oil discoveries offshore Guyana have propelled the former British sugar-growing colony from a frontier province to an oil and gas hot spot, writes EIC’s Pietro Ferreira
G
uyana is the world’s newest oil and gas player. As multinationals firmly establish themselves in the capital, Georgetown, barges that once transported the country’s famed sugar on the Demerara River have been replaced by platform supply vessels carrying state-of-the-art oil and gas equipment. And a floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) unit, sporting the colours of the Guyanese flag, is producing oil some 160km off the coast.
A Caribbean
success story
The Stabroek block In December 2019, Guyana joined the ranks of world oil producers after ExxonMobil started operations at the 120,000bbl/d Liza Destiny FPSO. First oil came less than five years after the oil major announced the Liza-1 discovery on the Stabroek block. Located in the deep waters of the GuyanaSuriname basin in northern South America, Stabroek is home to 16 discoveries to date – the most recent announced in January 2020. According to latest estimates, all discoveries combined contain recoverable reserves of 8Bbbl of oil equivalent – a number that is likely to increase as drilling work leads to new hydrocarbon discoveries.
At a conservative barrel price of US$50,that could mean revenues of close to
Development phases Liza Destiny was the first of at least five FPSOs to be installed on the Stabroek block. A second development phase will also feature an FPSO at the Liza field, but with a 220,000bbl/d oil processing capacity. The vessel – Liza Unity – is under construction in Singapore, and the unit will be the first to be provided by SBM Offshore under the contractor’s Fast4Ward standardisation programme. Similar to Phase 1, TechnipFMC
A country of only
780,000 people, Guyana is set to jump into the world’s top 10 oil producers, on a per-capita basis
US$15bn per year
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