ExxonMobil to purchase Liza Destiny, Unity FPSOs operating in Stabroek Block

– timing for purchases to be determined between Exxon, Dutch shipbuilder

As per the contract between ExxonMobil Guyana and SBM Offshore, the Dutch ship maker that manufactured the floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessels currently in Guyana’s waters, Exxon will begin the process to purchase the first two vessels.
This is according to Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL) Vice President and Business Services Manager Phillip Rietema, who recently informed the media that the timing for this purchase is a work in progress.
“The agreements we have with SBM [Offshore] allow us to have the option to buy the FPSOs and we are progressing plans now…and working [out] the timing of those purchases,” Rietema explained.
Rietema also used the occasion to appraise the public on ExxonMobil Guyana’s financial position. He explained that Exxon has invested approximately GY$3 trillion in assets for exploration and production over the time they’ve been in Guyana. However, profits have been around $600 billion. Further, their operations are financed solely through equity.
“Today, all of our capital has been sourced through equity contributions to ExxonMobil Guyana. We have no loans, as you can see on the balance sheet… if you go back and you see our financial statements over time, you can calculate the aggregate revenue just by adding up the year-by-year revenues.”
“And you’ll find, we didn’t have any revenues until 2020. During that period, we were still investing heavily in the projects and the country. We started to generate revenue in 2020 when Destiny was online. And revenues have been increasing, particularly this year, now that we have a second project online,” Rietema said.
Exxon, through its local subsidiary EEPGL, is the operator of and holds 45 per cent interest in the Stabroek Block. Exxon’s remaining co-venture partners in the Stabroek Block are CNOOC Petroleum Guyana Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Chinese company CNOOC Limited that holds a 25 per cent interest in the Exxon-administered Stabroek Block, and Hess Guyana Exploration Ltd, which holds 30 per cent interest.
Last month, SBM had inked a 10-year agreement with ExxonMobil to operate and maintain a total of four FPSOs in the Stabroek Block. It was explained that SBM Offshore will operate the units through an Integrated Operation Model, which will include seconding ExxonMobil Guyana employees in some key onshore and offshore positions.
It was only in April 2023 that the Prosperity FPSO, constructed by SBM Offshore, arrived in Guyana to join the other FPSOs – Liza Destiny and Liza Unity, which are currently producing more than 380,000 barrels per day.
Prosperity will develop the Payara field in the offshore Stabroek Block. It has an initial production capacity of around 220,000 barrels of oil per day and an overall storage volume of two million barrels.
Production from the Prosperity vessel is expected to push daily production to some 600,000 barrels a day in 2024. ExxonMobil had said at the time that installation campaigns were ongoing and development drilling is underway to support Prosperity’s start-up later this year.
Guyana, with US oil giant ExxonMobil as the operator, began producing oil on December 20, 2019, in the Stabroek Block. Guyana’s oil revenues are being held in the Natural Resource Fund (NRF) at the New York Federal Reserve Bank, where it is earning interest.
The oil-rich Stabroek Block, which is producing the oil, is 6.6 million acres (26,800 square kilometres). Exxon, through its local subsidiary Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL), is the operator and holds 45 per cent interest in the Block. 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.
ExxonMobil has said it anticipates at least six projects offshore Guyana will be online by 2027, with possibly 10 FPSOs operational by 2030. Production has already started in the second phase, with the Liza Unity FPSO vessel in operation.
The third project – the Payara development – will target an estimated resource base of about 600 million oil-equivalent barrels and was at one point considered to be the largest single planned investment in the history of Guyana.
Meanwhile, the Yellowtail development, which will be oil giant ExxonMobil’s fourth development in Guyana’s waters, will turn out to be the single largest development so far in terms of barrels per day of oil, with a mammoth 250,000 bpd targeted.
The Uaru oil development, which will be the fifth one for the company offshore Guyana, is targeting between 38 and 63 development wells, including production, water injection, and gas re-injection wells. Exxon had previously also made known that they anticipate the first oil from the Uaru development by late 2026 or early 2027.