“Guyana is our growth engine” – Stabroek Block partner

Hess Corporation, one of the three partners in the prolific Stabroek Block said Guyana is the “growth engine” of the company, adding that the corporation is on track to becoming a “significant cash engine”.

Chief Executive Officer of Hess Corporation, John Hess, underpinned the foreseen prosperity due to multiple phases of low-cost development that are set to come on stream.

The CEO made this announcement in the company’s third quarter earnings call in October.

“Key to our long-term strategy is Guyana, one of the industry’s best investments. On the Stabroek Block, where Hess has a 30 per cent interest and ExxonMobil is the operator, we announced the 19th and 20th significant discoveries during the third quarter at Whiptail and Pinktail.

And on October 7th, we announced the 21st significant discovery on the block at Cataback. These discoveries will underpin our Q, our future low-cost oil development. We see the potential for at least six FPSOs on the Stabroek Block producing more than $1 million gross barrels of oil per day in 2027, and up to ten FPSOs to develop the discovered resources on the block,” the CEO articulated.

With the Stabroek Block now surpassing 10 billion oil equivalent barrels, up from the previous estimate of more than nine billion barrels, Hess anticipates that investors and Guyana will continue to see multibillion barrels of future exploration potential remaining. This growth translates to massive transformation and shared wealth for each Guyanese and sector, as committed by His Excellency Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali and his government.

Guyana’s second and third oil developments, Liza-2 and Payara, are on stream for their 2022 and 2024 startup. Just in October, the Liza Unit Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel arrived in Guyana. The subsea umbilicals, risers and flowlines (SURF) are being set up by ExxonMobil, the Stabroek Block operator.

The fourth development, Yellowtail is set for startup in 2025 and will be situated 126 miles offshore Guyana where ExxonMobil made its 13th discovery. Its optimum production capacity is 250,000 barrels per day and would continue for 20 years. The FPSO is designed to have a storage capacity of two million barrels of oil.

The proposed development, according to joint public hearings into the project between Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), could provide some 1,300 jobs across its four phases.

Meanwhile, on Monday, the government announced the completion of the fifth lift of crude oil from the Liza Destiny FPSO. This is the fifth and final lift for the year and now brings total lifts since first oil in 2019 to nine, while the total sum in the Natural Resources Funds stands at more than US$500 million.

Government, through the Ministry of Natural Resources will continue to build technical capacity and jointly work with all relevant stakeholders to sustainably manage the petroleum sector for the benefit of all Guyanese.