A worrying aspect of the global energy transition now gathering pace is how impoverished countries with large oil and gas discoveries react to wealthy nation rhetoric telling them that they should kiss the chance of making $billions goodbye before they’ve even started harvesting the resource.
The president has given companies operating in Essequibo three months to withdraw. ExxonMobil's Stabroek block is at least partly within the Essequibo marine territory.
“Each new project supports economic development and access to resources that will benefit Guyanese communities while also helping to meet the world’s energy demand.”
These low-liquid yield finds trap a “large proportion” of the discovered oil. These resources “will not be able to be developed and monetised unless infrastructure solutions for the evacuation of gas are put in place in tandem with the associated gas that is being recycled today in the current production operations”.
Based on the IEA’s STEPS baseline scenario, Guyana will increase production to around 2mn bpd by the mid 2030s. Under the more conservative APS scenario, the IEA sees Guyana reaching 1.3mn bpd by 2035.
Drilling costs have been an issue at the Wei well. In June, CGX reported these had risen to $190-195mn. Before drilling, the companies had predicted $130-140mn.
SBM said it would operate the units via an Integrated Operation Model. This will involve seconding ExxonMobil Guyana employees to some onshore and offshore positions.
Six FPSOs could be producing on Stabroek by the end of 2027, with capacity of more than 1.2 million bpd. The number of FPSOs could rise to 10, aiming to produce the more than 11 billion barrels.
A small group of deep-pocketed companies increasingly dominates exploration and, as yet, they are avoiding the boom-and-bust mentality of previous oil cycles.
ExxonMobil has made a trio of new discoveries offshore Guyana, boosting recoverable resources from the prolific Stabroek Block to nearly 11 billion barrels of oil equivalent.