ExxonMobil and its partners in Guyana continue to discuss with the local government terms to develop a shallow-water block won in a 2022 auction, a spokesperson for the U.S. supermajor has told Reuters.
The consortium of ExxonMobil and its partners, U.S. Hess Corp and China’s CNOOC has been pumping all the crude oil in Guyana, with production currently exceeding 600,000 barrels per day (bpd) from one offshore block—the Stabroek Block.
The consortium is also interested in developing a shallow-water block offshore the South American country, which has become the world’s newest oil producer thanks to Exxon and its partners that developed several producing platforms in Stabroek.
ExxonMobil, Hess, and CNOOC remain interested in the shallow-water block, Exxon’s spokesperson told Reuters via email, after Guyana’s Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo said on November 21 that the consortium had pulled out of the talks.
Last week, Jagdeo said that Exxon had written to the government to confirm it was interested in the shallow-water block.
“They said there might have been a misunderstanding, they have not walked away from” the talks, Jagdeo said last week, as carried by Reuters.
“Let’s see how it goes,” the vice president added.
Since discovering first oil in what turned out to be a very prolific Stabroek block, Exxon, Hess, and CNOOC have received billions of U.S. dollars in revenues and net profits, as production has been ramping up and is now more than 600,000 bpd.
Exxon’s consortium is currently producing a total of 665,000 bpd in Guyana but over the longer term eyes production of over 1 million bpd. Total oil production in the country is seen rising to over 1.6 million bpd by 2030, as the government seeks to maximize returns from the industry before the predicted demand growth peak. If the peak demand predictions fail to materialize, the outlook for Guyana’s oil industry is even brighter.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
