MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Guyana working to establish an onshore oil and gas facility to boost the incipient industry

Guyana said that as industry continues to evolve, “early plans must be put in place to harness synergies and benefits that will arise” said minister Raphael Trotman

The Guyana government intends to establish an onshore oil and gas facility in the country as it seeks to fully optimize opportunities in petroleum exploration and production. The Ministry of Natural Resources, working in conjunction with the Ministries of Public Infrastructure and Business, says it believes that this facility is critical and said it is part of the raft of measures intended to ensure that Guyana keeps on the right trajectory in the development of the oil and gas industry.

 “The development of onshore infrastructure is critical to the success of the offshore oil and gas activities, and it is expected that this logistics and supply base will be able to serve the sector as a whole,” it said in a statement.

“Government believes that as the industry continues to evolve, early plans must be put in place to harness the synergies and benefits that will arise from this and other necessary infrastructure, including providing much needed employment to large numbers of Guyanese.”

Onshore facilities normally include shipyard, port facilities oil field waste disposal, oil spill response, electric power infrastructure, support and heliport facilities, platform fabrication support, among other services.

The government is reviewing several locations for the establishment of the facility that is expected to be established in collaboration with the private sector in a public/private partnership.

Last June Exxon-Mobil announced a big find at its new well offshore Guyana, called Liza-2. It builds on the success of 2015’s Liza-1. At Exxon’s recent annual meeting, CEO Rex Tillerson declared that first Liza to be the world’s biggest discovery of 2015. Together, the Lizas’ high-porosity sandstone reservoirs could hold more than 1.4 billion recoverable barrels of high-quality oil.

The virtually unexplored waters of Guyana, the former British colony east of Venezuela, are fast becoming a hotspot of global oil exploration. And Exxon is going big, having expanded its position to 8.1 million gross acres. “To put this in perspective, this is the equivalent of 1,400 Gulf of Mexico blocks,” Tillerson said. Exxon says the 3-D seismic survey that it conducted on the lease was the biggest in company history.

Exxon has 45% of the Liza prospect, Hess Corp has 30% and China’s Cnooc-Nexen, 25%. If Liza is a big deal for Exxon, it’s a bigger deal for smaller Hess. In a statement, CEO John Hess called it an “exciting prospect” and “world-class” with additional wells planned for the drillship Stena Carron.

The backdrop is that Venezuela claims a third of Guyana' s territory and its off shore zone where oil has been found.

“The development of onshore infrastructure is critical to the success of the offshore oil and gas activities, and it is expected that this logistics and supply base will be able to serve the sector as a whole,” it said in a statement.