MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Hess Exploration investing heavily in its Guyana oil offshore operations

Of the US$1.9bn allocation, 35% will go towards production, 41% for offshore Guyana developments and 24% for exploration and appraisal activities.

The Hess Exploration company is betting strongly in the opportunities of its Guyana operations. With a 30% interest in the Stabroek Block, it has allotted more than 80% of its capital and exploratory budget of US$1.9 billion for 2021 to its offshore blocks.

Of the US$1.9 billion budgetary allocation, US$670 million or 35% will go towards production, US$ 780 million (41%) for offshore Guyana developments and US$ 450 million (24%) for exploration and appraisal activities.

The CEO of the company, John Hess said: “the majority of our 2021 budget is allocated to Guyana, where our three sanctioned oil developments have a Brent breakeven oil price of between US$25 and US$ 35 per barrel”

The company will inject US$235 million towards the Payara development which it stated has a capacity to produce up to 220,000 gross barrels of oil per day, with the first production expected in 2024.

Chief Operating Officer Greg Hill said, “Offshore Guyana, our focus in 2021 will be on advancing our next two sanctioned developments to first oil – Liza Phase 2 in early 2022 and Payara in 2024 – and on front end engineering and design work for future development phases on the Stabroek Block. We also will continue to invest in an active exploration and appraisal program, with 12-15 wells planned on the Stabroek Block.”

Funds are also included in the budget for well planning on block 42 in Suriname (Hess 33.3%), seismic acquisition and processing in Guyana, and the deepwater Gulf of Mexico and for license acquisitions.