Energy Dept now seeks firm to market Guyana’s oil

Having already lifted and sold its first one-million-barrel shipment of crude oil from the Liza Destiny in the Stabroek Block, Guyana’s Energy Department is now looking to secure a marketing agent for the country’s crude.
The Department, which falls under the Ministry of the Presidency said in its invitation that the objective of the initiative is for the provision of marketing services for Guyana’s oil entitlement from the Liza Destiny Floating Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) Vessel.
That FPSO began producing crude in the Stabroek Block with the partners each taking entitlements based on the formulae laid out in the Crude Lifting Agreement (CLA) between Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL/ExxonMobil Guyana); Hess Guyana Corporation; China National Offshore Oil Company (CNOOC-Nexen) and the Guyana Government.
The scope of works for the firm that Government is looking to hire, includes the successful marketing of Government’s share of crude oil entitlement.
The Energy Department said it envisioned a minimum production rate of five lifts per year that would represent the Guyana Government’s entitlement.
The successful firm is also expected to provide support to the Energy Department, in “all operating and back-office responsibilities of managing these crude sales and each individual lift”.
The Energy Department is also looking to have the successful company –in addition to marketing and managing the affairs of crude sales – support the Department in the first year of introduction of the grade of oil in multiple geographies and refineries worldwide.
Guyana is said to have a low-sulfur, sweet light crude.
Furthermore, the Energy Department expects that the successful company will also be responsible for conducting training sessions for its personnel in “matters relating to crude oil supply and trading fundamentals, and more specifically, those relevant to the Liza grade pricing”.
Greece-registered crude oil tanker Cap Philippe, recently uplifted Guyana’s first one-million-barrel crude entitlement from the Liza Destiny.
The vessel was chartered by Shell Western Supply and Trading Limited, which made the first purchase of crude from Guyana’s entitlement, with the tanker leaving the country on the evening of February 19.
Shell Western Supply and Trading Limited had secured the bid to buy the Government’s first three cargoes, with each cargo being approximately one million barrels of crude.
However, Guyana is still in the dark on the price at which this oil was sold to Shell.