Offshore staff
HOUSTON – Mike Cousins, senior vice president of exploration and new ventures at ExxonMobil, discussed the company’s successes in the Guyana-Suriname basin during a panel session at the Offshore Technology Conference on Wednesday.
“The exploration success in the basin is truly unprecedented,” Cousins said. “The discoveries in Guyana and Suriname span about 100 million years in deposition. It is an incredibly prolific basin.”
Since 2015, ExxonMobil has been involved in more than 20 discoveries in the basin. In the Stabroek block offshore Guyana, the company and its partners Hess and CNOOC have a recoverable resource base of about 9 Bboe.
He also said there is still significant potential throughout the basin. ExxonMobil operates the Stabroek, Canje, and Kaieteur blocks offshore Guyana and block 59 off Suriname.
Cousins also discussed the fast-track development pace offshore Guyana. The company expects to have three FPSOs in operation by 2024. The first FPSO, Liza Destiny, is currently producing about 120,000 b/d of oil. The second, Liza Unity, is expected to depart Singapore soon and be on location by 4Q 2021. The third, Prosperity, will operate at the Payara field. The FPSO hull is currently awaiting topsides integration at the Keppel yard in Singapore.
Yellowtail has been identified as the fourth development project in the Stabroek block, with anticipated start-up in 2025.
He noted partnerships with local suppliers, technology, and the global experience of the company, block partners, and contractors have contributed to its success.
“We can have all the great rocks that we want in the world, but stability is incredibly important,” Cousins said, “That is what is allowing us to go at the pace that we need to.”
ExxonMobil envisions at least six projects online by 2027 and sees potential for up to 10 projects to develop its current recoverable resource base.
He also highlighted the company’s efforts to build human capacity in Guyana. “Since the first discovery in 2015, we have made significant advances in this area in creating jobs,” he said.
The capacity efforts have two goals. The first is sustainable economic development. The second is safe and secure oil and gas development. For example, it supports the Centre for Local Business Development in Georgetown, which opened in 2017. This has helped more than 3,000 Guyanese companies, Cousins said.
Since 2015, the company has also spent more than $480 million with 800 Guyanese businesses. He said more than 2,8000 Guyanese support ExxonMobil’s operations.
08/18/2021
