Hess pumped US$622M into Guyana, other countries in 2nd quarter

…capital & exploratory investments increase from 2021

Guyana is among the countries that Hess Corporation, a partner in the Stabroek Block where ExxonMobil is the operator, poured over US$600 million in investments into for the second quarter of the 2022 fiscal year.
According to the Capital and Exploratory Expenditures contained in Hess’ estimated results for the second quarter, the company invested US$622 million during that fiscal period, an increase from the previous second quarter figures of US$429 million.
This, Hess explained, was primarily due to higher exploration, drilling and development activities in their oil and gas holdings in Guyana. Their other investments included Bakken, Gulf of Mexico, and Malaysia.
“Midstream capital expenditures were $72 million in the second quarter of 2022, up from $47 million in the prior-year quarter,” Hess explained in their second quarter report, which also included their production figures from the Stabroek Block.
According to Hess, the net production at the Stabroek Block where they hold a 30 per cent stake, totalled 67,000 barrels of oil per day (bopd) in the second quarter of 2022… as compared with 26,000 bopd in the prior-year quarter.
“Production from the Liza Destiny FPSO reached its new production capacity of more than 140,000 gross bopd in the second quarter of 2022 following the completion of production optimisation work initiated in March,” Hess explained.
“Net production from the Liza Unity FPSO, which commenced in February, was 35,000 bopd in the second quarter of 2022, and reached its production capacity of 220,000 gross bopd in July. In the second quarter, we sold 6 one-million-barrel cargos of crude oil from Guyana compared with 2 one-million-barrel cargos in the prior year quarter.”
The oil rich Stabroek Block is 6.6 million acres (26,800 square kilometres). Exxon, through subsidiary 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.
So far, Exxon’s total investments in Guyana total GY$1.3 trillion on its own and over GY$3 trillion with its partners. Additionally, the joint venturers’ exploration and production plans up to 2025 will likely increase their investments to more than GY$6 trillion.
ExxonMobil has said it anticipates at least six projects offshore Guyana will be online by 2027, with developmental drilling having been recently started on the second one, the Liza Phase 2 project. Production has already started in the second phase, with the Liza Unity floating, production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel in operation.
The third project – the Payara Development – will meanwhile 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.
It was only on Tuesday last that Exxon announced new oil finds in the Stabroek Block, bringing its total discoveries in the block to 33 and its finds for this year to seven. Oil was found at the Seabob-1 and the Kiru-Kiru-1 wells.
In a statement on Tuesday, EEPGL announced the discoveries of oil at its Seabob and Kiru-Kiru wells. The Seabob-1 well, drilled by the Stena Carron ship at a depth of 4660 feet, encountered 131 feet of oil.
On the other hand, the Kiru-Kiru-1 well, drilled by the Stena DrillMAX at a depth of 5760 feet, encountered 98 feet of oil. Drilling operations meanwhile continue at this well. With these discoveries, Exxon has now made a total of 38 discoveries overall in Guyana’s waters. (G3)