Chief Operating Officer of Hess Corporation Greg Hill on Wednesday revealed that the flash gas compressor system from the Liza Destiny oil platform is currently undergoing repairs in Houston, Texas, USA.
Providing an update of the Liza Phase 1 project during a quarterly earnings call, Hill also said that production levels are expected to stay within the 100,000 to 110,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd) range until the repairs are completed.
Also addressing the call, Hess CEO, John Hess, stated that production from Liza Phase 1 ran at its full capacity of 120,000 gross bpd during the first quarter but in mid-April this was curtailed for several days after a minor leak was detected in the flash gas compressor discharge silencer. Oil production was then reduced to 30,000 bpd after the discharge silencer began experiencing technical issues during the final testing phase of the reinstalled flash gas compressor and other components of the system.
“Production has since ramped back up and is expected to remain in the range of 100,000 to 110,000 gross barrels of oil per day until repairs to the discharge silencer are completed in approximately three months following this repair,” he said.
Hill projected that upon reinstallation and restart of the flash gas compressor system, which is expected in approximately three months, production is expected to return to or above nameplate capacity of 120,000 bpd.
“For the second quarter, we now forecast net production to average between 20,000 and 25,000 thousand barrels of oil per day and our full year 2021 net production to average approximately 30,000 barrels of oil per day,” he disclosed while noting that contractor SBM Offshore has placed an order for an upgraded flash gas compression system, which is expected to be installed in the fourth quarter of 2021.
Hill later informed that the gas compressor is now in Houston, Texas undergoing repairs. Hill noted that ExxonMobil Guyana will be replacing the existing gas compressor with some components that have been redesigned. A shut-down of 14 days at the end of the year will allow for the installation on the new gas compressor.
Additionally, he said that production optimisation work is now planned in the fourth quarter, which will further increase the Liza Destiny’s production capacity.
“It is important to note that the overall performance of the subsurface in Liza 1 has been outstanding. We have seen very strong reservoir and well performance that has met or exceeded our expectations. Once the flash gas compressor is replaced, we are confident that we will see a significant improvement in uptime reliability,” he said.
A few days before the silencer began malfunctioning, Exxon had announced that gas flaring had been reduced to pilot levels after the safe reinstallation of the repaired and upgraded components of the flash gas compressor system on the Liza Destiny’s FPSO oil platform and that the team onboard had initiated a comprehensive three-phase testing programme.
More than two months ago, Exxon announced that the flash gas compressor on the Liza Destiny FPSO had malfunctioned, resulting in a temporary increase in flaring above pilot levels in order to maintain safe operations. Millions of cubic feet of gas have been flared per day raising numerous environmental and safety concerns. The flaring over the last year and a half would have significantly upped Guyana’s emission of greenhouse gases.
President of ExxonMobil Guyana Alistair Routledge had said that the gas compressor failed in the middle of the night on January 27 when optimisation testing was ongoing and the production level was around 130,000 bpd. However, he maintained that this was not in any way linked to the malfunction. Exxon Production Manager Michael Ryan had revealed that it was the mechanical seal that failed, which made the operator realise that there was an issue with the gas compressor.
Following the malfunction, the gas compressor and other key parts from the FPSO were sent to Germany for repairs.
A few weeks ago it was announced that logistics for its departure from Germany were being finalised following the successful completion of repairs, upgrades and mechanical testing of the compressor by MAN Energy Solutions, the equipment’s manufacturer, with quality assurance and control by experts from the vessel’s owner SBM Offshore, as well as Exxon.
According to Exxon, since its latest issue with the gas compressor, flaring levels have increased to 15 million cubic feet per day.
