Despite FPSO shutdowns: Guyana pumped 663,000 barrels of oil per day in August 2024

Despite the temporary shutdowns of the Liza Destiny and Unity Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessels, the production of over 660,000 barrels of oil per day was still recorded at the end of August 2024.
According to data released by the Ministry of Natural Resources, Guyana recorded a total of 663,000 barrels of oil per day for August. These figures come from the three FPSO vessels currently operating in the Stabroek block.
For instance, the Liza Destiny FPSO produced 160,300 barrels of oil per day from the Liza Phase One project. Meanwhile, the Liza Unity FPSO produced approximately 248,170 barrels of oil per day from the Liza Phase Two project. Finally, the Prosperity FPSO produced 255,420 barrels of oil per day, from the Payara project, as of August 30, 2024.
These figures come following the shutdown of the Destiny and Unity FPSOs between July and August, to facilitate the integration of the vessels with the Gas-to-Energy (GtE) Project. Earlier this year, Exxon Guyana President Alistair Routledge had said that during the shutdown, the company would also do debottlenecking activities on the Unity FPSO.

This, according to Routledge, would include modifications to allow the vessel to produce above 250,000 barrels of oil per day. ExxonMobil has also been eyeing the possibility of increasing production at its third project, Payara, which is served by the Prosperity FPSO.
Routledge had explained that reviews were being done in this regard with government ministries and agencies such as the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Six FPSOs are expected to be operating offshore Guyana by 2027. The fourth FPSO dubbed the ‘One Guyana’ FPSO, is currently being built by SBM, which had in 2022 been contracted by Exxon to construct, install, and then lease and operate the vessel.
When completed, this vessel would operate in the Yellowtail development. It is expected to begin producing oil in the second half of next year when production is expected to reach 250,000 barrels of oil per day. SBM’s latest update on the project is that it is 75 per cent complete.
The fifth FPSO, which would be named ‘Errea Wittu’, meaning “abundance” in the Warrau Indigenous language, would meanwhile operate in the Urau project. It would have an oil storage capacity of two million barrels, an oil production design rate of 250,000 barrels per day, and be able to offload approximately one million barrels onto a tanker in approximately 24 hours.
This vessel will be delivered by MODEC, a Japanese company that has confirmed the construction of this FPSO with a ceremony held on February 2. The start-up of the US$12.7 billion Urau development is targeted for 2026.
‘Jaguar’, the sixth FPSO, is earmarked for Exxon’s Whiptail Project. The government has said that by the time this FPSO comes online in 2027, Guyana is expected to be producing as much as 1.2 million barrels of oil per day. This FPSO is also currently being constructed.
For the first half of 2024, Guyana has produced 113.5 million barrels of oil, and with increased production from the Prosperity FPSO vessel, it is expected that production will cross the 220-million-barrel threshold by year-end.
A mid-year report on Guyana’s progress, which has recently been released by the Finance Ministry, had shown that the petroleum sector grew by 67.1 per cent. The industry is now expected to grow by 56.4 per cent for the entire year.
Further perusal of the report had shown that for the corresponding period in 2023, only 68.7 million barrels had been produced. According to the report, production averaged 624,000 in the first half of this year, almost double the 2023 rate.