• DeepOcean Secures Major Subsea Contract with ExxonMobil in #Guyana
    https://gcaptain.com/deepocean-secures-major-subsea-contract-with-exxonmobil-in-guyana


    The multi-purpose support vessel (MPSV) Siem Day.
    Photo courtesy DeepOcean

    Norway-based DeepOcean, a leading provider of ocean services, has secured a major contract from ExxonMobil Guyana for subsea construction and inspection, maintenance, and repair (IMR) services off the coast of Guyana, South America.

    The contract marks DeepOcean’s first substantial contract with ExxonMobil in the Americas and its debut in the burgeoning Guyana offshore market.
    […]
    DeepOcean will utilize the Siem Day multi-purpose support vessel (MPSV), which is outfitted with a 250-tonne crane and state-of-the-art technology and features that allow for efficient and safe operation even in challenging offshore environments. The vessel’s large deck space, advanced dynamic positioning systems, and dual ROV spreads guarantee superior performance and maximum productivity.

    The #Stabroek_Block is hailed as one of the world’s most promising oil and gas discoveries, with estimated recoverable resources exceeding eight billion oil-equivalent barrels to date.

    pas tout-à-fait sans rapport avec la réactivation des prétentions du #Venezuela sur l’#Esequibo

  • Oil Boom Begins in #Guyana as Exxon Produces First Liza Crude - Bloomberg
    https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-12-21/hess-exxon-report-first-oil-output-from-liza-field-near-guyana

    Exxon Mobil Corp. and its partners produced the first commercial crude from Guyana, setting the small South American nation on a path to potentially vast flows of oil revenues.

    Output from the first phase of the offshore Liza field is expected to reach full capacity of 120,000 gross barrels of oil per day in coming months, with the first cargo to be sold within several weeks, the companies said in separate statements late Friday.

    Exxon has a 45% share in the Guyana project, while Hess Corp. has 30% and China’s CNOOC Ltd. 25%. Exxon and Hess also reported Monday a new discovery at their Mako-1 well, which, along with Liza, is located in the #Stabroek_block.

    Guyana President David Granger declared Dec. 20 “National Petroleum Day,” noting that the country has become an oil-producing state three months ahead of schedule. The president hailed a related 10-year government plan to create oil-related jobs and boost the economy.

    Recoverable resources in the Stabroek block are estimated to exceed 6 billion barrels of oil equivalent. A second floating, production, storage and offloading (FPSO) facility, with capacity of as much as 220,000 gross barrels of oil per day, is under construction as part of Liza’s phase 2 development. At least five FPSOs are expected to be producing more than 750,000 gross barrels of oil per day from Stabroek by 2025.

    The amount of oil expected to be produced would mean Guyana, with a population of less than 800,000, may end up producing more crude per person than any other country in the world. But how it benefits from that wealth is still an open question. While the country has established a sovereign wealth fund, it has been slow to develop regulations to govern the sector and there’s no set plan on how the money will be spent.

    Your government will manage petroleum revenues prudently to ensure fiscal discipline, financial sector stability, sustainable levels of public debt and low inflation,” Granger said in a video address to the people of Guyana.

    Guyana will head to the polls in March for a presidential election that pits the incumbent coalition, led by Granger, against the People’s Progressive Party, which held power for 23 years until 2015.

    • Litiges transfrontaliers sur le plateau des Guyanes, enjeux géopolitiques à l’interface des mondes amazoniens et caribéens
      http://journals.openedition.org/espacepolitique/4242


      Carte 2 - les litiges du Plateau des Guyanes

      LE CAS DE L’ESSEQUIBO
      15 Le Venezuela affirme que la frontière « naturelle » avec le Guyana est formée par le fleuve Essequibo, et non par la ligne Schomburgk(^3) (Carte 2), tracée en 1844 et présentée en 1886 par le Royaume-Uni comme la frontière internationale. En 1899, l’arbitrage des Etats-Unis aboutit à des concessions bilatérales permettant une démarcation réalisée en 1905 (Cabrera Sifontes, 1970 ; Paúl, 1983 ; 2005 ; Donavan, 2003, Martínez, 2011), mais aboutissant à la perte pour le Venezuela d’un territoire d’environ 160 000 km², et surtout de plus de 200 kilomètres de côtes ouvertes sur l’Océan Atlantique, ce qui n’allait pas être sans conséquence par la suite du point de vue du droit maritime et de l’exploitation des ressources (Pouyllau, 1982). Le territoire perdu puis revendiqué appartenait à la Capitainerie générale du Venezuela avant l’indépendance de ce pays, le 19 avril 1810, qui fut suivie de modifications issues de traités et rapports d’arbitrages sans vices de forme (Hensel et Tures, 1997 ; Venezuela, 2000).
      –-------

      (3) Robert Hermann Schomburgk est né à Fribourg (Allemagne), mais a servi la Couronne Britannique comme officier pour fixer ses frontières. La définition des limites internationales avec le Venezuela est connue comme ligne Schomburgk.

      (je reprends le très remarquable article déjà pointé ici (et accessible…) : Litiges transfrontaliers sur le plateau des Guyanes, enjeux géopolitiques à l’interface des mondes amazoniens et caribéen de Gutemberg de Vilhena Silva, Professeur de géographie politique, Département des sciences humaines et sociales de l’Université fédérale d’Amapá (Brésil)

    • ExxonMobil Announces ‘Transformative’ First Oil In Guyana
      https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidblackmon/2019/12/26/exxonmobil-announces-transformative-first-oil-in-guyana


      UN HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK, NY, UNITED STATES - 2016/02/19: Guyanese President David Granger speaks with the press at UN Headquarters in New York City.
      Photo by Albin Lohr-Jones/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images

      December 20th marks a historic milestone for Guyana, the small South American country that is soon to become the fastest growing economy in the Caribbean. Late in the evening, ExxonMobil and its partners announced that it had produced the first commercial crude from the Liza field, located in Guyana’s offshore Stabroek Block. The output from the first phase is expected to reach capacity of 120,000 gross barrels of oil per day (bdp), utilizing the Liza Destiny floating production storage and offloading (FPSO), and the first cargo is set to be sold within several weeks. Stabroek Block is expected to produce 750,000 bpd by 2025.

      Guyana President David Granger declared December 20 as “National Petroleum Day” and said that the revenues from oil would be “transformative” for the Guyanese economy. The international community agrees – the International Monetary Fund has predicted the country’s GDP could grow 86 percent next year. “That’s 14 times the projected pace of China,” according to Bloomberg. The IMF further projects that the country’s current $4 billion annual gross domestic product will grow to $15 billion by 2024.

      Granger took the occasion to announce the government’s “National Decade of Development” plan, which will prioritize reforming the public education system and providing free schooling for all Guyanese. The “Petroleum production has brought the prospects of a higher quality of life closer to our households and neighbourhoods. It is a momentous event,” Granger said. “Every Guyanese will benefit from petroleum production. No one will be left behind.

      Recent months have seen a flurry of activity as the government takes steps to prepare for the first oil production. As I noted in September, The Ministry of the Presidency’s Department of Energy has been established to manage the country’s resources and build the institutional, legislative and regulatory architecture to manage the sector effectively.

      Head of the Ministry of the Presidency’s Department of Energy Dr. Mark Bynoe cautioned that “Guyana’s future is bright, but we can only secure that future by strengthening legislation, conducting due diligence, emphasizing education, following a balanced development paradigm and utilizing the best skills in the industry through partnerships.

      According to the government, local content policy is in its final stages of being reviewed by experts with the Local Content Unit to be set up by the end of the year. The draft has received mixed reviews, and will likely be a crucial issue in the lead up to Guyana’s next general elections in March 2020. The Guyanese government is also conducting a process to find buyers for the first three cargoes of the oil it is entitled to under the contract with the consortium, which is led by ExxonMobil with Hess Corp and China’s CNOCC.

      But first oil was not all that December had in store for Guyana. Just three days later, ExxonMobil announced that it had made a new oil discovery at the Mako-1 well southeast of the Liza field, marking the 15th discovery on the Stabroek Block. The successful Mako-1 adds to the previously estimated recoverable resource of more than 6 billion oil-equivalent barrels in the Stabroek Block.

      Amid the excitement surrounding the first oil milestone, the discovery at Mako-1 emphasizes the long-term nature of production in Guyana. With discoveries continuing to mount, ExxonMobil and its partners have sought to maintain a steady pace of development and approvals for future phases of production. Liza Phase 2 is already well underway, and the third phase, Payara, is expected for early 2020.

      The 800,000 or so citizens of Guyana are about to experience a very significant change in their standard of living due to the ongoing development of their nation’s offshore mineral resources. The crucial challenge for the government there will come in properly managing the new wealth. Granger’s government has taken several key initial steps towards that goal, and March’s national elections will help determine what that management will look like heading into the future.

  • Guyana rechazó la versión de Arreaza sobre los barcos de ExxonMobil
    http://www.el-nacional.com/noticias/mundo/guyana-rechazo-version-arreaza-sobre-los-barcos-exxonmobil_266206

    Enième incident de frontière entre Venezuela et Guyana : le 23/12/2018, une frégate vénézuélienne interrompt les opérations de prospection sismique d’un navire opérant sur une concession du Guyana à ExxonMobil.

    La nota divulgada por Jorge Arreaza aseguraba que los capitanes interceptados aseguraron disponer de un permiso de Guyana para operar en dicho espacio marítimo

    El ministro de Relaciones Exteriores de Guyana, Carl Greenidge, rechazó hoy la versión de Venezuela según la cual el Ejecutivo de Georgetown autorizó la incursión en aguas del país bolivariano de buques de exploración sísmica de la compañía ExxonMobil.

    Greenidge reiteró durante un acto público en Georgetown que los barcos noruegos contratados por ExxonMobil fueron interceptados por la Armada venezolana y rechazó la afirmación de la Cancillería de que estuvieran operando en sus aguas territoriales.

    El jefe de la diplomacia de Guyana calificó además de absurdas las palabras de la vicepresidenta de Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez, sobre una supuesta incursión en aguas territoriales del país sudamericano.

    La Cancillería informó el pasado 23 de diciembre de que la Armada Nacional Bolivariana divisó en aguas jurisdiccionales de Venezuela dos embarcaciones, una con bandera de Bahamas y otra de Trinidad y Tobago, contratadas por la petrolera ExxonMobil.

    La nota divulgada por Jorge Arreaza aseguraba que los capitanes interceptados aseguraron disponer de un permiso de Guyana para operar en dicho espacio marítimo.

    Greenidge dijo que tras repasar lo que describen los medios de comunicación de Venezuela y las conversaciones con los capitanes las coordenadas descritas dejan claro que estaban dentro de la ZEE (Zona Económica Exclusiva) de Guyana.

    Matizó, en concreto, sobre la embarcación Ramford Tetys que fue interceptada en la ZEE y en la plataforma continental de Guyana a una distancia aproximada de 140 kilómetros desde el punto más cercano a la línea equidistante provisional con Venezuela y unos 250 kilómetros desde Punta Playa, el punto más occidental en la frontera terrestre.

    El ministro de Relaciones Exteriores dijo que Guyana no tiene nada de qué preocuparse y que su país está dispuesto a volver reiterar hasta dónde llega su territorio nacional.

    Greenidge sostuvo además que su gobierno está satisfecho con el progreso del caso ante la Corte Internacional de Justicia (CIJ).

    #Esequibo

    • Exxon Mobil Continues Drilling Offshore Guyana Despite Venezuela Incident | Exploration & Production
      https://www.epmag.com/exxon-mobil-continues-drilling-offshore-guyana-despite-venezuela-incident-172

      Exxon Mobil Corp. said Dec. 26 its oil drilling and development activities offshore Guyana were unaffected despite neighboring Venezuela’s navy stopping two seismic survey vessels the company had hired.

      The closest of 10 oil finds Exxon Mobil has made off Guyana’s coast is 110 km (68 miles) away from the northwest part of the Stabroek block, where the navy halted seismic data collection on Dec. 22, the company said. Each country’s government says the incident took place in its territorial waters.

      Exploration and development drilling is continuing in the southeast area of the #Stabroek Block,” the company said in a statement. Exxon Mobil did not say whether the two vessels, owned by Norway’s Petroleum Geo-Services ASA (PGS), planned to continue their survey or return to the area where the incident occurred.

      There were two PGS ships involved in the confrontation, the Ramform Tethys and Delta Monarch, Bard Stenberg, a PGS senior vice president, said Dec. 24.

      A couple hours later we learned that the Venezuelan navy had withdrawn from the area,” Stenberg added.

  • Exxon Sparks IMF Concern With Weighty Returns in Tiny #Guyana - Bloomberg
    https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-04-09/exxon-sparks-imf-concern-with-weighty-returns-in-tiny-guyana

    Exxon Mobil Corp. got such a “favorable” deal from Guyana, home to the biggest new deepwater oil play, that the tiny South American country should rewrite its tax laws, the International Monetary Fund said.

    While Guyana should honor the existing deal, future contracts should ensure the state gets a higher portion of crude proceeds, the fund said in a report seen by Bloomberg News. The country, South America’s third poorest with an average per capita income of around $4,000, has little experience of dealing with multinational behemoths such as Exxon.

    Terms of the 2016 contract “are relatively favorable to investors by international standards,” the IMF said in a report prepared for Guyanese officials. “Existing production sharing agreements appear to enjoy royalty rates well below of what is observed internationally.
    […]
    Open Oil, a Berlin-based company that advocates contract transparency, also found Guyana’s share of the #Stabroek was low compared with both established and early-stage producing countries. Guyana will receive 52 percent of positive cash flow over the life of Exxon’s initial project, compared with between 63 percent and 72 percent for developments in Liberia, Mauritania, Ghana, Senegal and Papua New Guinea, it said in a March report.

    The Exxon contract, which was published on a government website last year, provides Guyana with a 2 percent royalty on sales and 50 percent of profitable oil, once costs are repaid. Exxon and its partners can only deduct three-quarters of their costs each year, giving the government some cash in the first years of the project.