Liza

Liza Oil Project Profile

Location and Block Details

• The Liza oil field is located in the Stabroek Block, approximately 190 kilometers offshore Guyana, in water depths of 1,500 to 1,900 meters.

Ownership and Operators

• The Stabroek Block is operated by Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL), a subsidiary of ExxonMobil, which holds a 45% interest in the block.
• Hess Guyana Exploration Ltd. holds a 30% interest, and CNOOC Nexen Petroleum Guyana Limited holds the remaining 25%.

Discovery and Appraisal

• The Liza field was discovered by the Liza-1 well in May 2015, which encountered more than 295 feet (90 meters) of high-quality oil-bearing sandstone reservoirs at a depth of 17,825 feet (5,433 meters) in 5,719 feet (1,743 meters) of water.
• Following the discovery, three appraisal wells (Liza-2, Liza-3, and Liza-4) were drilled in 2016 and 2017 to confirm the commercial viability of the field. A fourth appraisal well, Liza-5, was drilled in 2018 to test the northern part of the Liza field.

Phase 1 Development

• Production Start and Capacity: Production from the Liza Phase 1 development began in December 2019 and is expected to reach a full capacity of 120,000 barrels of oil per day (boed).
• Infrastructure:
  • The project includes a floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) vessel named Liza Destiny, which was converted from the Bahamas-flagged Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC) Tina at Keppel Shipyard in Singapore.
  • The FPSO is moored at a water depth of 1,525 meters and has a storage capacity of 1.6 million barrels of crude oil. It also has associated gas treatment capacity of 170 million cubic feet per day and water injection capacity of roughly 200,000 barrels per day.
• Wells and Drill Centers: The phase involves 17 subsea wells, including eight production wells, six water injection wells, and three gas injection wells, supported by four undersea drill centers.

Phase 2 Development

• Production Start and Capacity: Production from the Liza Phase 2 development began in February 2022 and is expected to produce up to 220,000 boed later in the year.
• Infrastructure:
  • The second FPSO, named Liza Unity, will be used for this phase. It has a production capacity of up to 220,000 boed, a gas processing capacity of 400 million cubic feet per day, and a water injection capacity of 250,000 barrels per day. The FPSO has a storage capacity of two million barrels of crude oil.
  • The development includes 30 wells, comprising 15 production wells, nine water injection wells, and six gas injection wells, supported by six drill centers.

Regulatory Approvals and Environmental Considerations

• Esso Exploration submitted a plan for phase one of the field’s development to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Guyana in August 2016. The EPA issued an environmental permit, and the Ministry of Natural Resources issued a production license for the Liza field in June 2017.
• Regulatory approvals for phase two were received in March 2019, allowing for the final investment decision to proceed with the development.

Contractors and Suppliers

• Seismic Data: Spectrum supplied 2D seismic data for the evaluation of the Liza prospect.
• FPSO Construction and Operation: SBM Offshore was awarded the front-end engineering and design (FEED) contract for the Liza-1 FPSO and was responsible for its construction, installation, lease, and operation.
• Drilling Contracts: Noble Corporation was awarded a three-year drilling contract to drill Liza development wells using the Noble Bob Douglas drillship. Stena Drilling was involved in the drilling of exploration and evaluation wells using the Stena Carron ultra-deepwater drillship.

Economic and Social Impact

• The project has significant economic and social implications for Guyana. As of 2019, more than 1,700 Guyanese had worked on ExxonMobil activities in Guyana, with over 50% of the total workforce being local. ExxonMobil and its direct contractors have spent approximately $180 million with more than 630 local suppliers since the first discovery in 2015.

Future Developments

• ExxonMobil plans to develop other fields within the Stabroek Block, including the Payara field, which will be supported by a third FPSO named Prosperity. The company anticipates that by 2025, at least five FPSOs will be producing more than 750,000 boed from the Stabroek Block.

Reservoir Details

• The Stabroek Block is estimated to contain more than six billion oil equivalent barrels as of the latest assessments. The Liza field itself is part of a larger block that includes other significant discoveries such as Liza Deep, Payara, Snoek, Turbot, Ranger, Pacora, and Longtail.