ExxonMobil on track to deliver gas-to-shore by year-end

…pipeline installation progressing

ExxonMobil is on track to deliver gas to Guyana’s shore by the end of the year, as the laying of the pipeline continues to progress satisfactorily.
Installation of the pipeline forms part of the transformative gas-to-energy project, in which are also included an Integrated Natural Gas Liquid (NGL) plant and a 300-megawatt (MW) combined cycle power plant to be situated at Wales, West Bank Demerara (WBD). The Guyana Government has envisioned startup of this project by 2025, thus realising its commitment to deliver cleaner, cheaper, and more reliable energy to the population.

While the Government is working with a number of partners to establish the NGL and the power plant components, ExxonMobil is responsible for executing the laying of the pipeline.
“…all the way from connections we’ve talked about on the FPSOs, the risers, the deepwater pipeline; all the way up onto the shallow shelf, crossing the seawall, and then all the way down to Wales for the onshore pipeline,” President of ExxonMobil Guyana, Alistair Routledge, told a press conference on Tuesday.
“At that point, it passes over to the Government, who is responsible for the integrated plant for the NGL extraction and the power generation, and then the tie in to the national grid,” he explained.
The onshore portion of the pipeline installation is about 40 per cent completed, while the offshore component is about 55 per cent completed.
“Last year, we had installation campaigns in two parts: we had the ultra-shallow piece, which are mud flaps at low tide…we did about 18 kilometres. So, we executed a good portion of that…then we also installed in the shallow water…going from that 18-kilometre mark out to where the shelf drops down into the deep water,” Routledge outlined.

For this year, remaining works include installing risers on the Liza Destiny and Liza Unity vessels; the deepwater pipelaying; then connecting it to the power plant. It is expected that the Liza field production will be taken offline in the second half of the year to facilitate this.
“For the whole pipeline, we’re on schedule to have that complete and ready to introduce gas by the end of this year,” Routledge assured. “We have an ongoing coordination interface set up to deal with the developers for the plant, so that we can align commissioning plans,” he added.
Government has said that, once completed, the gas-to- energy project would allow Guyanese to benefit from 50 per cent reduced electricity costs.
The scope of Guyana’s gas-to -energy project consists of the construction of 225 kilometres of pipeline running from the Liza field in the Stabroek Block offshore Guyana, where ExxonMobil and its partners are currently producing oil.
It features approximately 200 kilometres of a subsea pipeline offshore that would run from Liza Destiny and Liza Unity floating, production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessels in the Stabroek Block to the shore. Upon landing on the West Coast Demerara shore, the pipeline would continue for approximately 25 kilometres to the NGL plant at Wales, WBD.
The pipeline would be 12 inches wide, and is expected to transport per day some 50 million standard cubic feet (mscfpd) of dry gas to the NGL plant, but it can push as much as 120 mscfpd.
A whopping $80 billion has been budgeted in 2024 to advance this project and its associated infrastructure, including transmission and distribution upgrades to offtake the power.
In Budget 2023, the gas-to-energy project received a $43.3 billion allocation. This allocation is in addition to the $24.6 billion injected into the start-up of the transformational project.
The NGL and 300MW power plant components of the project are, meanwhile, expected to cost US$759.8 million, and will be financed through sources that include budgets and loan financing.
Meanwhile, a sum of US$55 million per annum will be paid to ExxonMobil in amortisation costs for the pipelines to be installed in the gas-to-energy project, which would allow Guyana to, in turn, save and earn ten times that amount.
Gas-to-Energy Project Head, Winston Brassington, had explained that the $55 million to be paid to ExxonMobil annually would allow the oil major to recover the US$1 billion spent on the pipelines.
Guyana has, meanwhile, been receiving assistance from international sources, including Qatar, when it comes to the formulation of a plan to utilise and monetise the gas supply it would get when the gas-to-energy project comes online. (G11)