Following the recent gas compressor malfunction on the offshore Liza Destiny platform, President of ExxonMobil Guyana Alistair Routledge yesterday disclosed that oil production has been pared to 120,000 barrels per day (bpd) – its previously stated maximum capacity – while gas flaring has increased to 16 million cubic feet per day.
At a virtual media briefing yesterday, the company confirmed that at the time of the failure of its stage three Flash Gas Compres-sor (FGC) failing, the Floating Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel was producing 130,000 bpd.
Routledge revealed that the gas compressor failed in the middle of the night on January 27th when optimisation testing was ongoing and the production level was around 130,000 bpd but he maintained that this was not in any way linked to the malfunction.
“Everything that we have been doing with the FPSO is within its design-ed parameters and at no time have we done anything that is outside the overall parameters of the equipment and so this failure is not linked to any higher capacity test that we have been doing but nevertheless in order to minimise flaring we have cut back from some of those higher production test levels,” he said.
On January 29th, Exxon issued a brief statement announcing the gas compression problem, resulting in it having to temporarily increase flaring above pilot levels in order to maintain safe operations. It has since said that it has removed the faulty compressor for repairs in Germany.
Exxon Production Manager Michael Ryan, who was also present at the briefing, revealed that it was the mechanical seal that failed, which made the operator realise that there was an issue with the gas compressor.
“The mechanical seal, that’s what we had an issue with and which was the originating cause of the machine being shut down [because it was] not sealing. We knew that mechanical seal was not sealing and we had not opened the machine fully so we know that based on our initial assessment we need to send it to the experts to do a full assessment of the seal and the third stage [FGC] itself,” he said.
Routledge added that while it was the seal that failed, the company don’t know why, which is why a full assessment of the FGC has to be done. He, however, noted that the testing that was being done was well within the capacity limits of the FPSO.
Ryan later explained that the FPSO oil processing modules can handle a total capacity of liquids of up to 158,000 bpd. In addition, he said that the total gas handling capacity is 190 standard cubic feet per day, while noting that they were only at 70 per cent of that amount when they were doing the testing and remained in that range with the total amount of gas.
Full value
Ryan noted the challenges encountered last year and said the team was working hard to ensure that Exxon was getting full value and optimizing production once performance testing was done. He explained that considering the production is early in its life most of the liquid that comes up is oil and barely little water, which is why they were able to test and optimize.
Providing an update on the current status of the FGC, Ryan said that it and the silencer and other key components are on the way to Germany and should arrive at the workshop by mid-week. He said experts from Exxon, SBM Offshore and manufacturer Man Turbo are already waiting. Once the equipment arrives, he said, they are going to inspect and conduct a full assessment of the parts to figure out the exact issue.
‘Not extreme’
Routledge acknowledged the issues encountered last year, which saw the company flaring over two billion cubic feet of associated gas, and said it was beginning to look at steady and reliable operations in 2021 when the compressor failed.
“I can assure you that we take this incredibly seriously. We are working 24/7. Mike and team are working hard to minimise the flaring as much as possible every day but just to put [it] in context the Kingston power plant has higher emissions than the flare,” he said before adding that the amount of flaring occurring is not extreme. He further noted that in oil and gas operations, flaring is necessary but Exxon does not want flaring of any significance to continue.
Routledge said that getting the FGC repaired and reinstated so normal operations can resume is the company’s top priority while assuring that updates will be provided every two days.
They currently don’t have a timeline as to when the issue will be resolved as a full assessment of the equipment has not been done but Routledge said they have estimated that it will take at least eight weeks to do repairs and upgrades. Additionally, it was stated that a new FGC was ordered but this will not be available until the end of the year.
He assured that they are working with the Ministry of Natural Resources, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission to “strike a right balance for Guyana.”
With the announcement of the recent compressor problem, former EPA Director Vincent Adams has criticized the company for continuing its maximum production. Adams, who was sacked by the PPP/C government last year, said that he had cautioned against allowing the maximum production rate and advised that a plan be devised to “keep stability in the reservoir.”
Adams has said that the company should be asked to address the problems with alacrity. “Operating full blast is not emergency. You cannot tell me that you are producing at full capacity and call that an emergency situation. The permit specifically prohibits flaring under normal operations. So what then is happening here? Something is wrong with that whole picture,” he contended.
“They should not continue producing at maximum and production should have gone to minimum to keep stability in the reservoir. If they are flaring with those production rates, that is a whole lot of flaring,” he added.
Asked whether the latest failure of the FGC is linked to the issue that occurred last year, Routledge said that they are not certain at this time.
According to Ryan, the FGC failure has not impacted production level and the next scheduled lift will be next week.
