Even though the mechanical issues plaguing the proper functioning of the Liza Destiny’s gas compressor system have not been fully resolved, Hess Corporation’s Chief Operating Officer (COO), Greg Hill, was pleased to report to shareholders yesterday that the progress made thus far has resulted in an increase in production.
Guyana Standard would have reported that the faulty gas compressor system had led to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), issuing orders to Exxon for production to be kept within 80,000 to 90,000 barrels oil per day. The EPA had told this news agency that the reduction was necessary as increases led to millions of cubic feet of gas being flared which is not an environmentally friendly practice.
In light of the progress being made, however, Hess was pleased to report that the Liza Destiny has been averaging approximately 105,000 barrels of oil per day for the last few weeks. He said too that in the third quarter, gross production from Liza Phase One averaged 63,000 barrels of oil per day or 19,000 barrels of oil per day net to Hess. The COO said, “So ongoing work to complete commissioning of the natural gas injection system continues, and once complete will enable the Liza Destiny floating production, storage and offloading vessel or FPSO to reach its nameplate capacity of 120,000 gross barrels of oil per day in December.”
The official added, “It is important to note that the delays in commissioning the gas injection system are mechanical in nature, and the reservoirs and wells continue to deliver at, or above, expectations. The design one, build many concept for the FPSOs allows the learnings to be captured and applied to future projects.”
With respect to the Liza Phase Two development, the COO said that this is progressing to plan with approximately 80% of the overall top side haul and subsea work completed. Guyana Standard understands that the project will have a gross production capacity of 220,000 barrels of oil per day and remains on track for first oil by early 2022.
