Guyana area E&P - moving 2-3 times faster than others

NOC partner must have deep pockets, deepwater experience – Guyana VP

By OilNOW - June 5, 2022
oilnow.gy/featured/noc-partner-must-have-deep-pockets-deepwater-experience-guyana-vp/

As it continues to weigh the pros and cons of having passive ownership in a National Oil Company (NOC), the Guyana Government has said any potential partner it chooses to manage the facility would need to have “deep pockets” as well as deep experience in exploring deepwater basins.

This was specifically noted by Vice President Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo during a recent engagement with the local media corps.

The State’s point-person on oil sector policy was asked to elucidate the reasoning behind the government leaning towards having a partner from the Middle East as opposed to closer to home, Trinidad and Tobago, which has over 100 years of experience in the sector.

Saudi Aramco is leading candidate for partnering with Guyana on National Oil Company – Deakin | OilNOW

He was quick to clarify that the government has not selected or opted for its partner to be from the Middle East should it go the route of a NOC. The Vice President said there were operators from that part of the world that had expressed interest early on. “We didn’t identify to work with any single group. Now clearly, there was an understanding that should they come to the table, they would need to have deep pockets because if you have an operator who comes to the table and takes losses and can’t raise money, then you will have a slowdown in activity. So, we have to choose a partner along those lines,” the Vice President said.

NOC, Hydrocarbon Institute could make Guyana a more relevant player in oil supply chain – Surinamese Economist | OilNOW

With that in mind, he said the government would not seek to have Trinidad and Tobago as a partner since the CARICOM State does not have a lot of money to put into any such company. “I don’t want to say much more, but they have a huge fiscal deficit, major revenue shortfalls and the State itself has fiscal issues… I don’t think you can find a partner there. We are going to need a partner with experience in working with deepwater, and there aren’t many around the world,” Dr. Jagdeo stated.

As regards the auction which is set to take place in the third quarter, the Vice President said a decision had not yet been made on whether to exclude ExxonMobil which holds the three largest blocks offshore: Stabroek, Kaieteur and Canje. He warned that doing so runs the risk of making the process uncompetitive.

Excluding Exxon, other operators could reduce competitiveness of auction – VP | OilNOW

He concluded that work is still being done on the format the bid round will take and the biddable items that would be included. The Vice President assured that the country would be informed when the administration makes progress on this front.

Is Guyana the Hottest Oil Exploration Play at the Moment?

Urbashi Dutta - Mon, June 6, 2022,
www.yahoo.com/now/guyana-hottest-oil-exploration-play-130301334.html

With billions of people staying at home and the global economy shrinking, oil demand dropped significantly amid the coronavirus pandemic. Oil markets had been in turmoil and producers throughout the world encountered more challenges than ever.

However, two years after the pandemic-driven epic oil price crash, optimism is back in the sector, with the commodity rallying above $100-a-barrel to multi-year highs. Apart from geopolitical uncertainties amid Russia’s military operations in Ukraine, oil’s remarkable turnaround has been prompted by a demand spike due to the reopening of economies and a rebound in activity.

Although oil contributes to global warming and other environmental issues, the world will have to continue to rely on fossil fuels due to the rising energy demand. In this context, the regular and timely discovery of resources assumes greater importance, considering the lack of investment in such endeavors over the past few years, plus the pivot to short-cycle (or shale) production.

One of the hottest new sources of oil and gas could be found in the offshore Guyana-Suriname Basin along the north coast of South America. The increasing number of discoveries in recent times provided for the possibility of Guyana becoming a major oil producer.

Per Reuters, energy major Hess Corporation HES said that additional oil discoveries at a deeper layer offshore Guyana could add billions of barrels to the block’s recoverable resources. On Apr 26, Hess announced three discoveries in the Stabroek block, thereby increasing the block’s gross discovered recoverable resource estimate to 11-billion barrels.

Multi-billion barrels are remaining on top of the discovered recoverable resources in the block. Guyana’s rising production will help Hess increase production at a 10% annual rate. Also, it will help the company avoid making acquisitions to sustain higher dividends to shareholders.

A consortium led by Exxon Mobil Corporation XOM unveiled 11 billion barrels of oil and gas in the country. Hess owns a 30% stake in the consortium, which made more than 30 oil discoveries at a depth of 15,000 feet in the giant Stabroek block. The consortium commenced drilling at 18,000 feet.

ExxonMobil currently has four sanctioned projects off Guyana’s coast. Drilled in January 2022, the Fangtooth discovery well could support another production unit. The Guyana projects are ahead of schedule, with ExxonMobil’s third planned platform likely to start production at Payara as soon as third-quarter 2023 from 2024 stated earlier.

Guyana is in talks with ExxonMobil to develop a 120-mile offshore gas pipeline. Guyana is trying to build infrastructure, including a gas-fueled power facility, to develop its economy following ExxonMobil’s discovery of the world’s largest oil reserves last decade. The pipeline would bring the associated gas to land from ExxonMobil’s oil production in the Stabroek block.

In May 2022, ExxonMobil awarded a contract to oilfield service major TechnipFMC FTI to proceed with its Yellowtail development in the Stabroek block offshore Guyana. The contract, which is ‘significant’ per TechnipFMC, is believed to be valued between $75 million and $250 million. It covers six risers, which are capable of withstanding high pressure and high temperature.

TechnipFMC also got the full notice to go ahead with the formerly declared contract for the subsea production system, following ExxonMobil’s final investment decision. The large part of the entire contract award will be included in FTI’s second-quarter inbound orders.

To conclude, Guyana is in an advantageous position as the world’s latest major oil producer. Apart from being commercialized, the country’s oil can transform the nation’s wealth. The country currently produces more than 340,000 barrels of oil per day.

I would say these oil companies better lign up their drillships and FPSO resources with contracts soon...

Guyana to lead Latin America, Caribbean with highest 2022 growth rate – World Bank Report

By OilNOW - June 8, 2022
oilnow.gy/featured/guyana-to-lead-latin-america-caribbean-with-highest-2022-growth-rate-world-bank-report/

While the war in Ukraine is having substantial effects on the Latin America and Caribbean Region via higher commodity prices and weaker global growth, Guyana on account of its oil industry is projected to lead the pack this year with the highest forecast for Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth.

This was noted in the World Bank’s latest Global Economic Prospects report released on Tuesday.

With respect to global growth, the World Bank said this is expected to slump from 5.7% in 2021 to 2.9% in 2022— significantly lower than 4.1% that was anticipated in January. It is expected to hover around that pace over 2023-24.

Turning to Latin America and the Caribbean Region, the World Bank said growth is expected to slow sharply to 2.5% in 2022, following a post-pandemic rebound of 6.7% in 2021.

Guyana to benefit most from rising oil price in Latin America region – AMI analysis | OilNOW

Furthermore, growth is set to decelerate further in 2023, to just 1.9%, before picking up slightly to 2.4% in 2024. OilNOW understands that the regional slowdown reflects tightening financial conditions, weakening external demand growth, rapid inflation, and high policy uncertainty in some countries.

Additionally, Central America’s economy is forecast to expand 3.9% in 2022 and 3.5% in 2023. This moderate slowdown tracks activity in the United States, the main source of export demand and remittances.

Growth in the Caribbean is projected at 6.9% in 2022 and 6.5% in 2023, helped by recovering tourism.

For Guyana, the World Bank said the oil producing nation remains on track for a 47.9% growth rate followed by 34.3% the following year, still representing the highest growth forecast for the region.

High energy prices could lead to ‘stagflation’ in Latin America – Arthur Deakin | OilNOW

As for Suriname, the CARICOM state is projected to see a modest 1.8% growth rate for 2022.

Guyana currently has two floating, production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessels operating at the Liza Phase 1 and Liza Phase 2 Projects in the Stabroek Block which spans 6.6 million acres (26,800 square kilometers). Two other oil projects are set to come on stream by 2025.

ExxonMobil affiliate Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited is the operator of the oil-rich block with a 45% working interest. Hess Guyana Exploration Ltd. holds 30% interest, and CNOOC Petroleum Guyana Limited holds 25% interest.

Here come the environmentalists with their lawsuits, this one on Guyana. I'm a
bit surprised it's happening there, and given the wealth that the oil will bring
to this relatively poor nation, I would presume it would be an uphill battle for
those AOC/Bernies down there.

The article below is highly slanted in favor of the environmentalists... the case FOR
development of these hydrocarbon resources is completely absent in the piece.  It
almost reads like something that ABC, CBS or NBC would author.

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gizmodo.com/the-first-constitutional-fight-over-oil-drilling-in-the-1846944998


The First Constitutional Fight Over Oil Drilling in the Caribbean Ramps Up in Guyana
ByDharna Noor
6/02/21 1:00PM

Two Guyanese climate activists are taking their nation’s government to court. Late last month, the plaintiffs filed a lawsuit alleging that a deal Guyanese officials struck with Exxon allowing the energy company to expand its oil production off the country’s coast violates their right and the right of future generations to a healthy environment.

“These rights are in the constitution,” said Troy Thomas, a professor of mathematics, physics, and statistics at the University of Guyana and one of the plaintiffs. “They couldn’t be stated more clearly.”


The case is a groundbreaking one for the Caribbean and follows a wave of other lawsuits around the world taking on oil companies and governments on constitutional grounds. In December 2019, citizens won a case against the Dutch government for failing to properly address climate change and violating human rights while German activists won a similar case earlier this year. Yet another case brought by Dutch citizens against Shell for its climate failures was decided in citizens’ favor last week.

The Guyanese suit focuses on the Stabroek petroleum exploration block, a 10,347-square-mile (26,800-square-kilometer) tract located 120 miles (193 kilometers) off Guyana’s coast. The country signed the block over to ENH—a joint venture between energy companies ExxonMobil, the Hess Corporation, and a subsidiary of a large national oil company of China—in 2016.

The patch of ocean constitutes Exxon’s single biggest oil development besides the Permian Basin in the U.S. The firm estimates the area could yield at least 8 billion barrels of crude oil and trillions of cubic feet of natural gas.


The oil consortium began extracting oil from the first stage of the project in 2019, and it wants to ramp things up quickly. By 2025, it plans to extract 750,000 barrels of oil every day. Lawyers with the Center for International Environmental Law, who are supporting the case, estimate that by then, the project could release 4.3 gigatons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

“And that’s in a country that isn’t emitting right now and is actually a net positive for the climate,” said Thomas, whose co-plaintiff is a 21-year-old Indigenous tour guide named Quadad de Freitas.

According to the United Nations, Guyana is one of only a handful of countries that are carbon sinks, meaning the country’s forests sequester more carbon than all national human activities inside its borders generate. The nation has also committed to reaching 100% renewable energy under the Paris Agreement as long as it receives aid to do so since it’s a poor country. Yet if drilling is allowed to continue, it would worsen the climate crisis, which would hit the Guyanese people particularly hard.

The case points to numerous impacts on Guyana. Among them are ocean acidification, which threatens the stability of Guyana’s rich and biodiverse ecosystems as well as fisheries that provide jobs and food security. Sea level rise also threatens Guyana since much of the nation, including its capital city Georgetown, lies at or even below sea level.

On top of all this, the plaintiffs and their supporters say the oil deal puts Guyanese citizens in economic peril since its scheme has the nation bearing most of the upfront development costs—including the costs of exploration from years past.

“The deal that Guyana negotiated with Exxon sees the people of Guyana actually paying for Exxon’s exploration and production operations in its exploration and development operations in Guyanese waters,” said Carroll Muffett, president of the Center for International Environmental Law. “And not only [paying for] ongoing operations, but also going back over a span of more than 15 years. So this is more than $900 million that Guyana has to repay Exxon for this infrastructure development.”

It’s a particularly risky contract because research shows that the market outlook for the fossil fuel industry—and particularly for Exxon—isn’t looking good. It’s unclear how much money the consortium will be able to make from the oil the Guyana project produces. One analysis found that the agreement will lead the nation to “experience total cash losses in their annual budget of $160 million,” and force leaders to borrow nearly half a billion dollars to pay for annual expenses on the oil project since revenue will likely not cover the operating costs. In a nation racked by poverty, the deal could end up making matters worse for everyday people in addition to the climate damage.

“It’s a very exploitative deal,” Melinda Janki, who leads the legal team for the case, said in an email.

Until ENH began its operations, Guyana had never produced oil before. Thomas says this is exactly the wrong time for the nation to start.

“We shouldn’t be getting into petroleum development. It’s not the energy source of the future. We should be looking at renewables,” he said.

Thomas said if the suit is successful, the state could respond by better regulating the fossil fuel project and placing caps on how much oil can be extracted. But the best possible outcome would be for the case to force the state to end its contract with the oil developers altogether.


“We should all have the goal of preserving the environment, we all should be doing that whether or not we have it in our constitution,” he said. “So really, ending the project would be the best thing to do for the world ... and it would also be the best way to protect our constitutional rights.”

Production from first three Guyana projects could hit 624,000 bpd

By OilNOW - June 9, 2022
oilnow.gy/featured/production-from-first-three-guyana-projects-could-hit-624000-bpd/


ExxonMobil, operator of Guyana’s Stabroek Block, is well positioned to optimise its offshore projects, thereby delivering hundreds of millions in additional annual revenues. Liza Phase 2 and Payara, ExxonMobil’s second and third Stabroek Block projects, each have the capacity to be debottlenecked by 10%.

Chief Executive Officer of Hess Corporation, John Hess recently stated this during Bernstein’s 38th Annual Strategic Decisions Conference in New York.

Debottlenecking is a process that provides for adjustments to an operation’s physical infrastructure to increase its efficiency.

Both the Liza Phase Two and Payara projects have nameplate oil production capacity of 220,000 barrels per day (bpd). Debottlenecking of 10% would add about 22,000 extra bpd to each project. Collectively, this amounts to 44,000 bpd in debottlenecked capacity.

ExxonMobil recently successfully undertook debottlenecking at the Liza Phase 1 project which had started out with nameplate capacity of 120,000 barrels per day. It now has oil production capacity of around 140,000 barrels per day – about 16% higher.

Exxon hikes capacity at Liza Destiny, schedules Payara for early startup | OilNOW

Debottlenecking of all three projects would therefore collectively add about 64,000 bpd to production offshore Guyana.

So, while production for these projects, based on combined nameplates, amounts to 560,000 barrels per day, debottlenecking would take that number to 624,000 bpd.

The value of debottlenecking is significant. With the example of Liza Phase 1, 20,000 extra bpd results in US$30 million in additional revenues in the duration of one month. With the price of oil sustained over US$100 a barrel over the last three months, this means that 20,000 extra bpd resulted in more than US$60 million in additional revenues for the month of May alone. With all three projects debottlenecked, that number would be somewhere over US$180 million in one month.

Guyana not the only region with aggressive oil agenda | OilNOW

The government has urged the Stabroek Block partners to tailor their operations to be consistent with its goal of aggressively producing oil to ensure Guyana benefits from its petroleum resources as the world transitions.

In addition to Liza Phases 1 and 2, and Payara, ExxonMobil has received approval for the Yellowtail project, on track for first oil in 2025. It also plans to move forward with the proposed Uaru development, which it could startup as early as 2026, pending government approval.

ExxonMobil intends to have six FPSOs operating offshore by 2027, with oil production totaling 1.2 million barrels per day. The partners see potential for 10 floaters to develop the discovered resource at the Stabroek Block.

Exxon unrivalled in the deep; developing Guyana oil fields at record pace

By OilNOW - June 10, 2022
oilnow.gy/featured/exxon-unrivalled-in-the-deep-developing-guyana-oil-fields-at-record-pace/

With four sanctioned projects in Guyana since the first oil discovery in 2015, of which two are currently in production at industry-leading timelines, ExxonMobil has proven itself “an unmatched project manager of deepwater projects.”

This point was recently made by Chief Executive Officer of Hess Corporation, John Hess. The company is a 30% stakeholder in the Stabroek Block where ExxonMobil Guyana is operator with 45% interest. CNOOC is the third co-venturer in the block with 25% interest.

Hess was keen to note during the Bernstein’s 38th Annual Strategic Decisions Conference that Liza Phase 1 which utilises the Liza Destiny floating, production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel started out at a nameplate capacity of 120,000 barrels of oil per day. From the time oil was struck in 2015, the Liza Destiny was on stream and producing oil in four years. Exxon has since debottlenecked the project to produce 140,000 bpd.

Exxon hikes capacity at Liza Destiny, schedules Payara for early startup | OilNOW

Liza Phase 2, Hess said, is using the Liza Unity FPSO and has oil production capacity of 220,000 bpd. “It is ramping up to that number as we speak.”

The third ship for the Payara development, Prosperity, which was supposed to come on stream in 2024, will now come online in the fourth quarter of 2023. The Hess CEO said the second and third ships have the ability to be debottlenecked by 10%, just like Liza Destiny.

As for Yellowtail which was approved on April 1, 2022, Hess said the hull is now being built and it is on stream for 2025 start-up. The Hess boss said, “This is the largest ship we have built to date, and it will produce up to 250,000 bpd with the opportunity to go up and it will cost US$10 billion. We will be developing 900 million barrels of oil resource with this ship.”

US$10 billion Yellowtail development will be largest investment in Guyana’s history | OilNOW

He noted that the breakevens for these ships are between US$25 and US$35 Brent, while Yellowtail itself “is the best return investment in the industry to date.” Thanks to Exxon’s prudent management, the projects are insulated at this time from cost inflation arising from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Russia.

The creditable cost-efficient approach of the operator will also allow Hess to realise income from the Guyana projects, specifically Liza 1 and Liza 2, totaling US$2.6 billion for 2022.

In this regard, Hess shared, “We have three liftings in Guyana in the first quarter, which is a million barrels per shipment. The second quarter is about 7; the third and fourth quarters will total 8 liftings each. We have over a US$100-barrel Brent price. We are therefore going from US$300 million of incremental cash flow from Guyana to US$700 million in the second quarter, then US$800 million in the third, and US$800 million in the fourth. So, that is a rate of change just for this year.”

He said this rate of change continues to compound at US$1 billion a year in incremental cash flow as each ship comes on. Because of Exxon’s approach, Hess said in no uncertain terms that Guyana’s offshore projects make for “an incredible cash flow story and it is unequaled in the business.”

I would guess the companies in this booming area as well as all offshore South America should start locking up deepwater drillships with contracts. And now this...

Guyana-Suriname basin steals spotlight from Brazil – Rystad Energy

By OilNOW - June 10, 2022
oilnow.gy/featured/guyana-suriname-basin-steals-spotlight-from-brazil-rystad-energy/

The Guyana-Suriname basin has overtaken Brazil’s pre-salt play as South America’s leading exploration hotspot, says Rystad Energy, an independent energy research and business intelligence company based in Norway.

This latest feat, it said, can be credited mostly to ExxonMobil’s basin-opening Liza discovery in 2015. Since then, Rystad said the basin has delivered more than 13 billion barrels of oil equivalent (boe), about 10 times the volumes found in Brazil during the same period. Nearly 11 billion of those barrels have been found in the Stabroek Block alone.

Rystad Energy further noted that an upgrade is on the cards as ExxonMobil’s affiliate, Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL) is currently drilling more exploration wells in the prolific Stabroek Block. It noted as well that “even little Suriname has delivered better, outperforming Brazil with more than 2 billion boe discovered in the past couple of years.”

World’s largest deepwater producer to exchange energy plans with Guyana | OilNOW

Brazil, meanwhile, has faced numerous disappointments with pre-salt prospects in recent years, including ExxonMobil’s Cutthroat-1 wildcat in the Sergipe-Alagoas Basin Block SEAL-M-428 which was expected to hold between 500 million and 1.05 billion barrels of oil equivalent. While the presence of hydrocarbons was not found, Exxon which has a 50% working interest in nine SEAL blocks, said it will continue to integrate the exploration well data into its regional subsurface interpretation efforts to better understand the exploration potential of its deepwater blocks located in the basin.

Cutthroat-1 is located nearly 90 kilometers (km) offshore Brazil and was drilled in 3094 meters (m) of water by the Seadrill West Saturn drillship. Exxon and its partners Enauta Energia and Murphy Oil have said it is one of multiple prospects mapped in the basin.

Inflation has also had an impact on Brazil’s attractiveness. Recent data by Rystad Energy indicates that the annual inflation rate in Brazil was above 10% in December 2021, one of the highest in the world and 3% higher than in the US over the period.

The Norway-based company has said the increase has driven oil and gas development costs higher in Brazil, particularly in areas where local content requirements mean work must be undertaken within country rather than internationally.

From 2022 to 2030, Rystad Energy estimates that capital expenditure (capex) on facility development for Brazilian oil and gas fields will top US$75 billion and represent over 80% of total capex. In general, this means that understanding local content requirements and country-by-country inflationary trends will be critical as a means of minimising cost increases for projects in Brazil through this decade, the consultancy group concluded.

Guyana’s projects, according to Stabroek Block partner, Hess Corporation, have been insulated from inflationary pressures due to the prudent management skills of operator, Exxon.

This is more about Uruguay even though the article's title leads with Africa.

And now this...

Exciting discoveries off Africa result in oil block awards to Shell, APA by Uruguay

By OilNOW - June 24, 2022
oilnow.gy/featured/exciting-discoveries-off-africa-result-in-oil-block-awards-to-shell-apa-by-uruguay/



Map shows awarded blocks on Uruguay's continental shelf, from National Administration of Fuels, Alcohols and Portland (ANCAP)

Uruguay announced on Thursday that it awarded three of six oil blocks on its continental shelf, through its state energy company, National Administration of Fuels, Alcohols and Portland (ANCAP).

ANCAP said the winning bids for the blocks are:

Block OFF-2: Shell, which got a better score than APA Group for an exploratory program that involves the evaluation of the geology of oil and prospective resources, investment in 3D, gravimetric and magnetometric modeling and information licensing.

Block OFF-6: APA Corporation, which commits the drilling of an exploratory well in the initial four-year period, the evaluation of oil geology and prospective resources and the licensing of information.

Block OFF-7: Shell, with an exploratory program that involves the evaluation of the geology of oil and prospective resources, investment in 3D, gravimetric and magnetometric modeling and information licensing.

President of ANCAP, Alejandro Stipanicic said the awards are extremely important as they mark the return of leading companies in the industry to the country after a decade of it receiving no such proposals.

ANCAP said, “The offers received were driven by discoveries in geologies analogous to those of the basins of Uruguay, on the West African coast and based on the prestige and reputation of the country in terms of its democratic, economic, and legal stability, as well as its demonstrated respect for the commitments assumed.”

Shell and TotalEnergies had made breakthrough discoveries offshore Namibia, which Westwood Global Energy Group said suggest a play similar to the Guyana-Suriname basin.

ANCAP also expects that the awards will facilitate the promotion of green hydrogen for export with approaches used by companies that develop strong investments around the world in oil & gas and renewable energies.

ANCAP reminded that it had also awarded the block OFF-1 on May 25 to Challenger Energy. This contract was proposed by ANCAP based on the offer made by the company in the May 2020 bid round and includes commitments for the evaluation and geological and prospective resource modeling of the area, as well as the licensing and reprocessing of existing 2D seismic information.

Uruguay’s neighbour to the West, Argentina, is also looking to unlock hydrocarbon resources offshore following Namibia’s discoveries. Equinor, Norway’s state energy producer, plans to drill the CAN-100 wildcat later this year.

Seems like Suriname wants to get this party into full swing as soon as possible. To do that they will need drillships boring into their seafloors.

And now this...

With big offshore finds, Santokhi invites major influx of investors at Energy Summit

By Shikema Dey - June 27, 2022
oilnow.gy/featured/with-big-offshore-finds-santokhi-invites-major-influx-of-investors-at-energy-summit/

Paramaribo, Suriname – A brand-new chapter dawns for Suriname, quickly becoming one of the hottest new oil exploration destinations on the globe.

And its President, Chandrikapersad Santokhi has opened the floodgates, inviting investors from all and sundry to help develop and share the benefits of its emerging oil and gas sector.

President Santokhi’s invitation was made as he delivered the feature address at the opening of the Suriname Energy, Oil and Gas Summit (SEOGS) on Monday.

“My government is inviting the international oil and gas companies to cooperate with our state oil company to reach agreements on further exploration and exploitation and to do business in oil and gas in Suriname. My government is also inviting all investors to come to Suriname and to invest in the spin off business of the oil and gas sector with local content in mind,” the Suriname President said.

Dignitaries, industry experts and investors have turned all focus to the Dutch-speaking nation over the next four-days where they get a chance to share knowledge and create partnerships as Suriname aims to establish itself as a global oil and gas powerhouse, alongside its neighbour, Guyana. The event is being held at the Torarica Hotel in the nation’s capital, Paramaribo.

Suriname already boasts of having a mature oil industry and is ready to expand to offshore operations; but this feat will only be achieved through “strategic and tough” decisions, President Santokhi underscored.

The Suriname Head of State noted that sustainable development and growth would not do well in politically unstable environments. And this is why, he said, Suriname continues to take steps to avoid this path.

Further, a major part of Suriname’s plan to achieve the success of its oil and gas sector is regional cooperation, President Santokhi added. And with Guyana as its closest neighbor, Suriname is looking to work in sync with its English-speaking neighbour.

Santokhi said, “Suriname and Guyana want a fair and equal opportunity to develop the newfound resources with no double standard and no extra conditionalities, and we must manage these newfound oil and gas discoveries well and effectively to steer our economies to the next level of development and delivery of common goods in a sustainable way,” he stressed.

“We must secure the lives of our next generation,” he added.

Guyana President, Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali who also gave an address for the conference’s opening ceremony, spoke highly of the partnerships between the two nations and what they are trying to achieve for the benefit of their citizens.

Meanwhile, President Santokhi has also opened Suriname to regional businesses looking to be contractors and sub-contractors in its oil industry. Those entities would be required to register with the Suriname Chamber of Commerce and partner with a local business to reap the opportunities that exist, he explained.

“Suriname is open for business. So, engage with the people of my country, engage with the business community of my country at this second Suriname Energy, Oil and Gas Summit… Let us interact and work together work towards a new and healthier road,” he concluded.

Drilling operations have been ramping up offshore Suriname this year with five high impact wells being targeted by International Oil Companies (IOCs). Guyana now holds the 17th largest oil reserves in the world as a result of a string of unprecedented discoveries made by US oil major ExxonMobil since 2015. Suriname is looking to match this success with major oil discoveries and rapid development of its own oil fields.

My sense from general exploration articles is that there are far more drillships deployed in Brazil than there are in Guyana yet Guyana is increasingly viewed as a probable rival to Brazil in terms of reserves. I think it's because Brazil is in a more development phase while Guyana is in more of an exploration phase and development requires more drilling. I'd like to figure out exactly how many rigs are in each country so as to help determine how much Brazil might be serving as a proxy for how many rigs will likely to be deployed in Guyana in the next few years.

Those new FPSO vessels mean more E&P and that means more holes in the sea floor using deepwater drillships. And that doesn't count what Suriname has going.

And now this...

Guyana now producing over 300,000 barrels of oil per day – Bharrat

By OilNOW - July 10, 2022
oilnow.gy/featured/guyana-now-producing-over-300000-barrels-of-oil-per-day-bharrat/

The start-up of Phase 2 of the Liza Development has pushed daily output in South America’s newest oil producing nation to above 300,000 barrels per day.

The Liza Unity floating, production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) vessel arrived at the ExxonMobil-operated Stabroek Block offshore Guyana in October 2021 and moved to produce its first barrel of oil in February this year.

Government applauds first oil from Liza Unity FPSO; earnings set to triple

Natural Resources Minister, Vickram Bharrat, told a visiting delegation of investors from Saudi Arabia on Saturday that the oil production ramp up in Guyana has been unprecedented.

“We discovered oil in May of 2015, and we started production in December of 2019,” Mr. Bharrat said. “To date we are producing at over 300,000 barrels per day with only two FPSOs. This…is unprecedented speed and I don’t think this has happened in any small developing country around the world – the rate at which we are moving our petroleum sector.”

Guyana oil could help meet global demand for next 20-30 years

Guyanese authorities have already approved two more projects for which FPSOs are currently under construction by Dutch floater specialist, SBM Offshore.

Current estimates show that production will exceed 1 million barrels per day as early as 2027, placing Guyana on a trajectory that will see it becoming the number two oil producer in South America in the early 2030s.

Too bad they don't break it down to Deepwater, Semis, and Jack-ups. My guess is the canceled is a measure of all three with jack-ups and semis being the bulk of those 'canceled'.