Guyana to remain CNOOC’s main source of production growth – 2024 Annual Report reveals
Apr 20, 2025
With over 11B barrels of oil reserves…
Kaieteur News- With over 11B barrels of oil discovered to date in Guyana’s Stabroek Block, the country will remain a main source for reserve and production growth for China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC).
CNOOC is the 25% shareholder in the Stabroek Block operated by ExxonMobil Guyana Limited (EMGL), which holds a 45% stake. Hess Corporation holds the additional 30% shares in the oil-rich block.
In its 2024 Annual Report, CNOOC described 26,800 square kilometers block as one of the global exploration hotspots in recent years.
The Stabroek Block offshore Guyana is located in the northeast of the country, with a water depth of 1,600 to 2,000 meters.
In its report, CNOOC said, “In 2024, the discovery of Bluefin was made in the Stabroek block ultra-deep-water. Currently, nearly 40 new discoveries have been made in the block and the total recoverable resources in the block amounted to exceed 11 billion barrels of oil equivalent (BOE) as disclosed by the operator.”
To this end, the Chinese oil company stated, “In the future, Guyana will remain as one of the Company’s main sources of reserve and production growth.”
Guyana’s true oil reserves have been the subject of debate over the past few months as the government’s figure varied from Exxon’s announcement by at least 600 million barrels.
The Ministry of Natural Resources in August 2024 finally provided a resource update after two years, indicating that the country’s reserves grew by 600M barrels, bringing the total Stabroek Block reserves to 11.6B.
ExxonMobil at a later press conference in October last year disputed the figures released by government and provided its own resource estimate. It was the company’s Country Manager, Alistair Routledge who informed reporters that the Stabroek Block reserves are less than 11 billion barrels.
He said, “The government released a number of 11.6B oil equivalent barrels, ExxonMobil’s estimate is lower than that number…our number remains a little under 11 billion oil equivalent barrels.”
In explaining the variation between Exxon’s figures compared to the reserves announced by government, Routledge noted that the state conducts independent studies, although it is supplied with data by the company.
Currently, Guyana’s Stabroek Block is producing an average of 650,000 barrels of oil daily from three Floating Production Storage and Offloading vessels (FPSOs).
Liza One is currently producing about 150,000 barrels per day (bpd) while Liza Two and Payara are each producing an average of 250,000 barrels daily.
Government on Tuesday announced the arrival of a fourth FPSO, One Guyana, which will add another 250,000 barrels to the country’s daily production capacity. This means when the vessel is fully operation, Guyana will be producing 900,000 bpd.
Installation activities are presently ongoing to prepare for first oil at the project, which is expected to commence in the fourth quarter of this year as previously indicated by the president of ExxonMobil Guyana.
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