ExxonMobil aiming for support services sourced locally by 2022

…as Guyana builds oil & gas capacity to rival Trinidad & Tobago

ExxonMobil, which has largely sourced services from neighbouring Trinidad and Tobago for its operations in Guyana since it started exploration activities here, said that with the strides Guyana has made to build capacity, these services are likely to be sourced locally by 2022.
Exxon’s Country Manager Alastair Routledge recently spoke of this in another section of the media, where he said that Guyana has undergone drastic changes in its oil and gas capacity since the early days when the company made its first oil discovery in the Stabroek Block in 2015.
He had said that when Exxon started exploration there was no infrastructure or expertise in place locally to support the company’s operations. This had led Exxon to source these services from Trinidad and Tobago, which has been producing oil on a commercial basis since 1908.
According to Routledge, however, it is anticipated that this supply chain will have been moved from Trinidad to Guyana by next year so that these services can be accessed locally. When this publication contacted Public and Governance Affairs Advisor at Exxon, Janelle Persaud, she noted that a number of Exxon’s prime contractors have been expanding their services from Trinidad into Guyana.
“When we started operations most of the prime contractors were operating out of Trinidad… and they have steadily been moving those services into Guyana… and what Alastair is saying is that we hope to have moved all of those into Guyana in 2022,” she said.

Among these prime contractors are Halliburton – a United States (US)-based oilfield contractor that has been providing a range of drilling services to Exxon, Saipem – which has been providing installation services for Exxon’s Liza Phase 2 and TechnipFMC, which is in charge of installing the subsea system for the Payara oil field – Exxon’s third development in Guyana’s water.
Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL), Exxon’s local subsidiary, is the operator and holds 45 per cent interest in the Stabroek Block, while Hess Guyana Exploration Ltd holds 30 per cent interest and CNOOC Petroleum Guyana Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of CNOOC Limited, holds the remaining 25 per cent interest.

Over in the Kaieteur Block, Exxon is the operator with a 35 per cent stake while Ratio owns 25 per cent. Cataleya Energy and Hess each also own a 20 per cent stake in the Kaieteur Block, while Westmount Energy owns stakes in Ratio (0.7 per cent) and Cataleya (5.4 per cent).
Meanwhile, Exxon also holds a 35 per cent stake in the Canje Block, where it is also the operator. The oil giant’s co-venturers in the Canje Block are Total, JHI Associates Incorporated and Mid-Atlantic Oil and Gas.
ExxonMobil has said it anticipates that at least six projects offshore Guyana will be online by 2027. A fourth project, Yellowtail, has been identified within the block with anticipated start up in late 2025 pending Government approvals and project sanctioning. This project will develop the Yellowtail and Redtail fields, which are located about 19 miles (30 kilometres) southeast of the Liza developments.
The start-up of Liza Phase 2 remains on target for 2022, as the Liza Unity FPSO prepares to sail away from Singapore to Guyana later this year. The Unity FPSO has a production capacity of 220,000 barrels of oil per day at peak rates. The hull for the Prosperity FPSO vessel, the third project at the Payara Field, is complete, and topsides construction activities have commenced in Singapore with a start-up target of 2024. (G3)