The successful ExxonMobil (Exxon) campaign in Guyana has been halted due to lengthy delays in approvals for the Payara project.
The Payara development plan includes a floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel named Prosperity; it is expected to produce 220,000 barrels per day. The development is similar to that of Liza phase 1 and 2. Payara will have up to 45 wells, including production wells, water injection wells and gas injection wells.
The Payara development start-up is expected as early as 2023. However, Exxon has indicated that the project will be delayed due to the government’s delay in approving the project.
In April, Exxon indicted that some 2020 activities are now being deferred, creating a potential delay in production start-up of six to 12 months of Payara.
The approval process has been affected by the contested March elections in Guyana. The government was dissolved at the time and were unable to make an approval. The election debacle that ensued was not resolved until August.
While the new government led by Irfaan Ali was recently instated, the government has not yet granted approval. The new Minister of Natural Resources, Vickram Bharrat, has indicated that a decision is forthcoming.
Payara is one of the government's priorities ‘and we are hoping to resolve the matter by the end of this month’, Bharrat said according to Argus Media. Argus Media also reports that ExxonMobil hopes to take a final investment decision on Payara by September, the company's Senior Vice President Neil Chapman said.
‘We need to be ready to move as soon as the government is ready," Chapman said. ‘We are ready but we need an approved development plan and that approved development plan needs to come from the government’.