November 12, 2021
-US$80.4m received for last lift
Guyana last month received US$80.4M for its latest one million barrels of oil which took its balance in an American bank account to US$534,016,987.03.
The last amount takes the revenue to date from oil sales, royalties and interest to some $111,342,541, with another lift expected this month and which will cap this country’s total lifts to five for 2021.
The Ministry of Finance and the Bank of Guyana have made public the totals to date on their websites, giving the sum in Guyana and United States dollars. A rate of G$201 to US$1 was used in the conversion.
This newspaper understands that the last payment was made into the New York Federal Reserve Bank on the 22nd of September.
That same month, Minister of Natural Resources Vickram Bharrat had told Stabroek News that Guyana will get a total of five lifts of one million barrels of oil this year and not the anticipated six, after production was scaled back earlier this year, due to the flash gas compressor problems aboard the Liza Destiny FPSO.
However, given assurances from the operator that there would not be a recurrence since measures have already been put in place, Bharrat says that there will be six lifts next year from that vessel.
“On the 22nd of this month [September] will be our fourth lift and then we’ll have one in November. That would be the five for the year. We were pushing to have six this year but because of the issue with the gas compressor, we had to ask them to lower the production, so that they could lower flaring. Because of that we may not be able to get the 6th lift for 2021 but we would be able to get it for 2022,” he had said.
“It is very likely we will get six lifts in 2022. Also, they are bringing in a spare compressor so if this one develops problems again, they’ll replace it, so there is no down time,” he informed.
Since production began in December of 2019, Guyana has had eight lifts, four last year and four for this year.
The minister had pointed out that there will be increased production in the Stabroek Block by the end of the first quarter next year, since another Floating Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) platform – the Liza Unity – will be working in the offshore area.
That FPSO is already here and is being connected to the spread mooring before preparation for testing and commissioning.
The Liza Phase 2 development will produce up to 220,000 barrels of oil per day from the Liza Unity FPSO, which will be supported by a total of six drill centres and approximately 30 wells. The company has said that this includes 15 production wells, nine water injection wells and six gas injection wells. The Liza Phase 2 startup is expected in early 2022 and will develop approximately 600 million barrels of oil. Liza Phase 2 is expected to cost US$6 billion, including a lease capitalization cost of approximately US$1.6 billion, for the Liza Unity FPSO.