Safety maintained despite flaring challenges – ExxonMobil Production Manager

…no major workplace injuries since 1st oil

Many would imagine that life onboard a Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) oil ship is potentially dangerous, but according to Exxon’s Production Manager Mike Ryan, ExxonMobil has gone for almost two years without any recordable incidents on board the Liza Destiny FPSO.
The Liza Destiny FPSO began producing oil in December 2019. According to Ryan in a recent interview with his company’s Public and Government Affairs Advisor Janelle Persaud, there have been no recordable incidents on board the ship one year and seven months later. He defined a recordable incident as any in which an injury is sustained that would require first aid.
“The Liza Destiny team has now gone over 660 days without a recordable incident. When we say recordable incident, it would mean anything more than first aid. We capture every single incident. If someone nips the top of their finger, we record that. Anything beyond that, like say a stitch or something that requires antibiotics or first aid, is called a recordable incident.”
“We’ve gone over 660 days without one of those. That is phenomenal and I’m extremely proud of that. And I’m proud that we were able to achieve that while working through the very challenging issues we’ve had,” Ryan further explained.
These challenges are a reference to the technical problems Exxon started grappling with in January, regarding the seal on Liza Destiny’s flash gas compressor. The problem resulted in Exxon having to reduce its production and also conduct routine flaring. The compressor is now operational and according to Ryan, Exxon was able to do all this while maintaining safety.
“The team has been very focused on the flash gas compressor. And bringing that flare down to as low as possible and pilot level flaring. But in the middle of all this and the challenges the team has had, they have also been relentless about safety.”
“And I’m extremely proud of the entire team offshore. And the Guyanese nation should also be proud of folks working offshore and providing a world class safety performance,” the Production Manager said.

Projects
In the meantime, ExxonMobil envisions at least six projects online by 2027 and sees potential for up to 10 projects to develop its current recoverable resource base. The Liza Destiny FPSO vessel is currently producing about 120,000 barrels of oil per day.
The start-up of Liza Phase 2 remains on target for early 2022, and the Liza Unity FPSO expects to sail from Singapore to Guyana in late August 2021. The Unity has a production capacity of approximately 220,000 barrels of oil per day.
The hull for the Prosperity FPSO vessel is complete, and topsides construction activities are ongoing in Singapore with a start-up target of 2024. The first Payara development well was spudded in June 2021, and the offshore SURF installation will begin in third-quarter 2021.
Yellowtail has been identified as the fourth development project in the Stabroek Block offshore Guyana with anticipated start-up in 2025. Following necessary Government approvals and a final investment decision, this project will develop the Yellowtail and Redtail fields, which are located about 19 miles (30 kilometres) southeast of the Liza developments, and potentially adjacent resources.
These new projects continue to contribute to the advancement of the Guyanese economy. More than 2600 Guyanese are now supporting project activities on and offshore, which reflects an increase of more than 20 per cent since the end of 2019. ExxonMobil and its key contractors have spent approximately US$388 million with more than 800 local companies since 2015. (G3)