Guyana Oil and Gas News

A major international energy conference opened this morning at the Guyana Marriott Hotel with President Irfaan Ali and other leaders emphasizing sustainable exploitation of petroleum resources and the switch to green fuels.

ExxonMobil’s local subsidiary EEPGL is preparing for the drilling of some 12 wells in the offshore Canje Block and may be able to forge ahead as Guyana’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says that the project does not require an Environmental Impact Assessment.

ExxonMobil today said it has started production at Guyana’s second offshore oil development on the Stabroek Block, Liza Phase 2, bringing total production capacity to more than 340,000 barrels per day in only seven years since the country’s   first oil find.

Auditing of cost oil, reviewing of oil and gas legislation, the establishment of the Local Content Secretariat, and preparation for the review of field development plans, are among the projects that have received allocations in the Ministry of Natural Resources’ budget.

Having done the review for the Liza and Payara Stabroek Block projects, the United Kingdom-headquartered oil and gas consultancy, Bayphase Ltd, will also be conducting the review of the Yellowtail Project, Minister of Natural Resources Vickram Bharrat yesterday disclosed, saying their offer was the best one for this country.

The Auditor’s General office has been building its capacity to serve the needs of auditing revenues coming from the oil and gas sector, Minister of Governance and Parliamentary Affairs, Gail Teixeira on Monday disclosed.  “Two middle management officers now have their Master’s degrees in studies relating to oil and… engineers, the audit office has three, one with a Masters… more engineers will be catered for in the 2023 budget,” Teixeira told the National Assembly Committee of Supply that is currently considering budget expenditures for 2022.

As ExxonMobil prepares for the commissioning of the Liza Unity FPSO at the end of this month, government is exploring cutting out the ‘middleman’ and directly selling its oil share from that project and one option is India.

Introduction In an earlier column, January 16, I had intimated that this ongoing series of columns, which I have been pursuing could well turn out to be, frankly, an overly ambitious task.

Two sets of international consultants have been engaged to evaluate the ExxonMobil-led Yellowtail development, Natural Resources Minister Vickram Bharrat told the National Assembly on Thursday.

The PPP/C government yesterday signalled to CGX Energy Inc (CGX) that it would be seeking amendments to the 2013 agreement signed under the Donald Ramotar administration, with Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo saying the decision is in keeping with campaign promises made to give this country better deals from the resource.

Guyana last week received its first lift of oil for 2022 from the Liza-1 FPSO, Destiny with government expecting the highest price per barrel to date given that world prices have surged.

With six oil discoveries in 2021 and two already for this year, ExxonMobil yesterday said that its estimated US$6 billion global restructuring will aid aggressive works at the lucrative offshore Stabroek Block, positioning the company this year to see additional profits as it strengthens its portfolio to increase shareholder returns.

Canadian oil explorers CGX Energy Inc and Frontera Energy Corpora-tion yesterday announced a commercial oil find off the Corentyne coast and this is to be further evaluated.

Government should stay away from supporting any non-oil project requiring subsidized energy, and instead focus on maximizing the revenues received from the non-oil economy and supporting local content initiatives to push that.

Reacting to the disclosure by Minister of Natural Resources Vickram Bharrat that the audit of ExxonMobil’s US$460 million in pre-contract costs remains incomplete, APNU+AFC Member of Parliament David Patterson called it “unacceptable,” while questioning government’s approach.

Introduction This week’s column continues to advance the discussion concerning the analytical significance of Pillar A that I started last week.

   Three Guyanese women have filed a case against Guyana’s Environmental Protection Agency to put a stop to flaring of gas offshore by ExxonMobil.

“The fish gone! The fish getaway. All over we deh searching.

Twelve bids have been submitted by firms for the consultancy services for the review and evaluation of field development plans for ExxonMobil’s Yellowtail project.

Businessman and Newspaper Publisher Mr. Glenn Lall has filed an action in the Guyana High Court challenging key provisions of the 2016 Petroleum Agreement between the Government of Guyana and Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited, CNOOC Petroleum Guyana Limited and HESS Guyana Exploration Limited.