Guyana Oil and Gas News

Introduction Today’s column reports on the third concept that frames my representation of Guyana as a Petrostate, that is the role of happenstance in the nation’s world-class petroleum finds.

ExxonMobil handed its chief executive a 52% pay increase to $35.9m (£28.7m) for 2022 after the oil company reported its highest ever profits, the UK Guardian reported today.

The early arrival in Guyana’s waters of ExxonMobil’s third FPSO has underlined the determination of the company – and the government here – to extract oil as rapidly as possible from the country’s lucrative offshore Stabroek Block.

When the RHVE Consortium’s audit is completed, it should reflect that ExxonMobil credited the cost bank $263,899 for a number of charges including its public relations work, since the IHS Markit audit had revealed that the company promised to do so in 2020, as those expenses are not recoverable.

(Reuters) – Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM.N) on Tuesday signaled in a securities filing that first-quarter operating profits dropped about 25% from last year’s record levels as oil and gas prices eased.

Members of Red Thread in collaboration with grassroots women yesterday afternoon staged a protest in front of the Office of the President for the assurance that in an event of an oil spill, ExxonMobil will cover the full cost.

The IHS Markit audit of oil expenditure by ExxonMobil’s subsidiary, Esso Exploration & Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL) has revealed that not only did it procure the services for the Transocean-owned Deepwater Champion drill ship way above costs for similar vessels available but that the company had submitted US$500,000 for seismic works prior to 2008 and had no supporting documents for it.

-gov’t has kept report hidden for two years The first ever audit report of the cost claims by ExxonMobil and its partners for 1999 to 2017 found that a whopping 12.8% of its US$1.67b expenses could be disputed by the Guyana Government as they were not allowable or did not have sufficient supporting documentation.

Introduction For the convenience of several enquiring readers, I begin today’s column with a brief recap.

Introduction In Guyana’s fast changing news cycle, the issue of whether or not there is a shortage of foreign currency appears to have receded into the background.

ExxonMobil on Thursday announced the successful startup of its Beaumont refinery expansion project in Texas, which adds 250,000 barrels per day of capacity to one of the largest refining and petrochemical complexes along the U.S.

Introduction Last week’s column wrapped-up my effort to overcome the failure after seven consecutive years of weekly assessment of Guyana’s emerging oil and gas sector to devote even a single column each to Hess Corporation or CNOOC Nexen Petroleum Limited, which share a working interest of 30 percent and 25 percent respectively in the Exxon Mobil-led Consortium operating under the Stabroek Block’s PSA, the only crude oil producing exporting entity to date.

Introduction Today I consider the Consortium’s third member, CNOOC Nexen Petroleum Limited; a subsidiary of the CNOOC group and its subsidiary Nexen. 

For the first payment for its oil share for 2023 from the agreement with ExxonMobil and partners in the Stabroek Block, Guyana received US$82.25M which will be added to the already US$1.3B in the Natural Resource Fund,  held in a New York Federal Reserve Bank account.

Introduction Following a question raised in the National Assembly by Opposition MP Mr.

Discussions with ExxonMobil have commenced on possible gas production with government eying monetizing the offshore resource as soon as the auctioning of oil blocks is completed, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo said.

Introduction Over this week’s and the column to follow I shall provide a summary overview of ExxonMobil’s two consortium partners in crude oil and gas exploration, appraisal and production in Guyana, largely confined so far to the bountiful Stabroek block.

Introduction As promised last week, today’s column and the next two are devoted to an overdue  discussion of the notion of “working interest” as this is freely applied when referring to the grouping or consortium of the three oil companies leading the exploration and production of Guyana’s hydrocarbons in the prolific Stabroek Block.

Introduction President Irfaan Ali was visibly upset by the disclosure in the Stabroek News of Guyana’s suspension from the Norway-based Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI).

Environmentalist Simone Mangal-Joly has written to the Executive Director of the EPA, Kemraj Parsram urging him to cease and desist from conducting meetings on ExxonMobil’s proposed fifth oil platform until a certified Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is  provided.