• Payara is the third of multiple oil developments planned on the Stabroek Block, adding 220,000 gross barrels of oil per day of production capacity
• Production capacity on the block increased to approximately 620,000 gross barrels of oil per day

Hess Corporation today announced startup of production from the Payara development on the Stabroek Block offshore Guyana, utilizing the Prosperity floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel. The Prosperity is expected to reach its initial production of 220,000 gross barrels of oil per day over the first half of 2024 as new wells are brought online. Production capacity on the Stabroek Block is now approximately 620,000 gross barrels of oil per day.

The Prosperity FPSO arrived in Guyana in April 2023. It is moored in water depth of about 6,300 feet and will develop an estimated resource base of more than 600 million barrels of oil.

“We are proud to be a partner in the successful development of this world class oil resource for the benefit of the people of Guyana and all other stakeholders and congratulate ExxonMobil as operator for outstanding project execution,” CEO John Hess said. “The world will need these low cost oil resources to meet future energy demand and help ensure an affordable, just and secure energy transition.”

The Liza Phase 1 and Liza Phase 2 developments began producing in December 2019 and February 2022 respectively, and together have a production capacity of approximately 400,000 gross barrels of oil per day. Yellowtail and Uaru, the fourth and fifth projects, are in progress and will each have a production capacity of approximately 250,000 gross barrels of oil per day. The operator is currently working with the government of Guyana to secure regulatory approvals for a sixth project at Whiptail.

In total, six FPSOs with a gross production capacity of more than 1.2 million barrels of oil per day are expected to be online on the Stabroek Block by the end of 2027, with the potential for up to 10 FPSOs to develop the estimated gross discovered recoverable resources of more than 11 billion barrels of oil equivalent.

The Stabroek Block is 6.6 million acres. ExxonMobil Guyana Limited is operator and holds 45 percent interest in the Stabroek Block. Hess Guyana Exploration Ltd. holds 30 percent interest and CNOOC Petroleum Guyana Limited holds 25 percent interest.

KeyFacts Energy Guyana company/country profiles: ExxonMobil   l   Hess   l   CNOOC International