Guyana News

Oil giant Shell has extended the contract for the lease of SBM Offshore's Espirito Santo FPSO in Brazil. SBM Offshore is also in talks with ExxonMobil to extend the FPSO terms in Guyana.The Dutch FPSO operator said Wednesday that the lease and operation contracts with Shell of the FPSO Espirito Santo would be extended for five years.This means that the end of the contractual lease and operation period was extended from December 2023 to December 2028.SBM Offshore is the majority owner of the lease and operating companies related to FPSO Espirito Santo with 51% equity ownership…

SBM Offshore, a Dutch FPSO specialist, has informed that the topside integration phase has kicked off in Singapore on the Liza Unity FPSO. Once completed the FPSO will be deployed at ExxonMobil's Stabroek offshore block in Guyana, and will be Guyana's second FPSO in production."Progress [with the Liza Unity FPSO] picked up pace when the yards in Singapore re-opened earlier this year. The mooring and riser system integration, as well as another work scope, were completed in dry dock at Keppel FELS…

Dutch marine services and towage company KOTUG said it has been awarded a long-term contract by ExxonMobil affiliate Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL) to provide offshore terminal towage support for operations in Guyana.KOTUG, through local entity KOTUG Guyana Inc., will employ a high-spec 130 tonnes bollard pull, DP-2 azimuth anchor-handling tug SD Power to provide support to the existing and upcoming floating production, storage and offloading units (FPSO) at the Liza Field in the prolific Stabroek Block offshore Guyana by providing towage assistance to export tankers…

Damen Shipyards Group has been awarded a contract to design a new offshore terminal tug for Edison Chouest Offshore. Chouest will initially build two ASD Tugs 5016 at its Gulf Ship yard in Gulfport, Miss., for completion by May 2022.Damen said it has designed the 50-meter ASD Tug 5016 to provide escort, hold-back, hose-handling and maintenance duties offshore Guyana. The tug will deliver 120 tons of static bollard pull delivered by twin C-280 engines. It will also have a hybrid system that will be engaged when loitering.

U.S. oil major ExxonMobil has reached a final investment decision on a $9 billion offshore oil development project in Guyana, following the approval by the government.To remind, Reuters last Friday reported that Guyana was close to reaching a deal with Exxon to green-light the project "after the company committed to stricter environmental restrictions on gas flaring and wastewater."The project, called Payara, will target an estimated resource base of about 600 million oil-equivalent barrels.

Around midnight on February 23, Eulalio Bravo, a marine electrician, was dozing in his rack aboard the San Ramon, an oil tanker anchored off the coast of Venezuela.Suddenly, he heard footsteps pounding along the passageway outside. His captain, Jaime Herrera, cried for help."Be still!" an unfamiliar voice ordered.A gun fired.By the time Bravo and eight other shipmates emerged to see what had happened, the captain lay dead, a gunshot in the back of his head. Herrera's stateroom had been pillaged, drawers flung open, his bunk overturned.

The United States and Guyana will begin joint maritime patrols aimed at drug interdiction near the South American country’s disputed border with crisis-stricken Venezuela, the U.S. secretary of state and Guyana’s new president said on Friday.The agreement comes as U.S. oil major Exxon Mobil Corp, as part of a consortium with Hess Corp and China’s CNOOC Ltd, ramps up crude output from Guyana’s massive offshore Stabroek block, a large portion of which is in waters claimed by Venezuela.“Greater security…

Even as business, schools and scenes from everyday life seem frozen as society adjusts to the coronavirus, the U.S. marches closer toward the November presidential election. In early August, Vice President Joe Biden announced Senator Kamala Harris as his running mate. As the Biden-Harris ticket works out their policy platforms, they should move beyond past comments attacking American offshore oil and gas production. In fact, a strong American offshore oil and gas industry is a platform every candidate should stand behind.Between New Orleans and Houston…

China's Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding (SWS) shipyard has delivered another Guyana-bound FPSO hull for the Dutch FPSO specialist SBM Offshore.Following the delivery of the Liza Unity hull in late 2019, SWS on Monday delivered the Liza Prosperity hull, the second hull built under SBM Offshore's Fast4Ward standardized-FPSO-hull program. The construction of the FPSO Prosperity hull started in January 2019.The FPSO Prosperity is expected to be deployed at ExxonMobil's Stabroek block offshore Guyana, as part of the Payara oil field development.

A free webinar will deliver latest forecasts and market intelligence for the global floating production industry, offering insider access to business and investment opportunities in the deepwater sector.Floating Production Systems: 2020 Forecasts & Analysis, presented by ABS and World Energy Reports, will be held July 29, 2020, 11 a.m. (EDT). REGISTER HERE.The effects of the COVID-19 crisis and oil supply glut continue to seriously dampen investment appetite in the oil and gas sector…

A free webinar will deliver latest forecasts and market intelligence for the global floating production industry, offering insider access to business and investment opportunities in the deepwater sector.Floating Production Systems: 2020 Forecasts & Analysis, presented by ABS and World Energy Reports, will be held July 29, 2020, 11 a.m. (EDT). REGISTER HERE.The effects of the COVID-19 crisis and oil supply glut continue to seriously dampen investment appetite in the oil and gas sector…

As oil and gas companies began shutting offshore production before the first tropical storm of the season in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, experts said restarting wells and refineries will take longer and prove more costly this year because of COVID-19.Well shut-ins typically last a few days or weeks at most, but oil companies have adopted stringent virus precautions for refinery and offshore staff, including frequent health checks, travel restrictions, onsite protective gear, and…

SBM Offshore, the Netherlands-based FPSO supplier, has shared a video of its Liza Unity FPSO Hull going into the dry dock in Singapore.The hull was ordered on speculation in 2017 as the first of what are now five hulls being built as part of SBM Offshore's Fast4Ward standardized-FPSO-hull program. ExxonMobil then came out as the suitor for the unit, and the FPSO will be deployed at its Liza field in Guyana.The Liza Unity hull was built by Shanghai's SWS shipyard and has recently arrived in Singapore for topside integration.Shortly after arriving in Singapore in February 2020…

Liza Unity, an under-construction FPSO that will be Guyana's second offshore facility in production, remains on schedule for first oil in 2022, Hess Corp. said Thursday.Guyana became an oil-producing nation in December 2019, when Exxon brought online the Liza Destiny FPSO.Hess, a partner in the ExxonMobil-operated Stabroek block the Liza Destiny is operating, said Thursday that Liza Destiny would reach full capacity of 120,000 gross bopd in June. Hess also said that Exxon has…

Tropical Shipping announced it will serve the Port of Paramaribo with once-weekly sailings beginning May 14.The carrier will ship everything from small packages to refrigerated cargo, dry goods, building supplies and vehicles via its new eight-day transit between Florida and Suriname.Southbound service to Suriname will depart the Port of Palm Beach every Thursday and arrive in Paramaribo each Friday of the following week. The northbound 11-day service will depart Suriname on Friday and arrive in the U.S. on a Tuesday.

Oil shipments from nascent crude producer Guyana's prolific Liza field could be affected by a growing storage glut that has contributed to plunging global crude prices, the country's director of energy said.A consortium led by Exxon Mobil began producing crude from the offshore field in December after discovering more than 8 billion barrels of recoverable resources together with partners Hess Corp and China's CNOOC Ltd. The poor South American country had no history of crude production.But…

Lankhorst Offshore reports it has been awarded a contract by SBM Offshore to supply the deepwater mooring lines for the Liza Unity Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) for ExxonMobil’s Liza oil field offshore Guyana, South America. This follows the deployment of Lankhorst mooring lines for the Liza Destiny FPSO mooring system also in the Liza field.The Liza Unity FPSO, based on SBM Offshore’s Fast4Ward FPSO design, will be spread moored at a water depth of 1,600m with 20 Cabral 512 deepwater mooring lines with a minimum breaking strength of 12,300 kN.

Offshore marine transportation firm Harvey Gulf International Marine says it has been able to achieve success in the turbulent offshore market by constantly reinvented itself to fit the industry demands.Never afraid to shake things up, Harvey Gulf has maintained this mindset throughout its 70-year-history, says CEO Shane Guidry. “From a humble beginning of a three oyster fishing vessels used as supply vessels in 1949 to a larger fleet of offshore vessels that towed barges and drilling rigs to its modern day evolution of a fleet of offshore supply…

Global oil firms are preparing to spend more than $53 billion in Guyana’s coveted Stabroek Block during the coming decade.According to Rystad Energy research, recent discoveries in the Guyana-Suriname basin have proven a wider petroleum system and may cause an upgrade in resource estimates, drawing extra attention to upcoming wells.It said that with more than 8 billion barrels of recoverable oil discovered in Stabroek thus far, companies are set to boost their capital expenditure for the area, with ExxonMobil leading the way.The Liza field – the first and largest discovery in the block – has increased the oil major’s appetite, as its…

A vessel carrying about 1 million barrels crude oil from Guyana set sail on Monday for the United States, according to vessel tracking service TankerTrackers.com, ushering the tiny South American nation into ranks of the world's oil exporters.The first cargo of Liza crude departed from the floating platform Liza Destiny off Guyana, operated by U.S. companies Exxon Mobil, Hess Corp, and China's CNOOC . (Reporting by Marianna Parraga; editing by Diane Craft)

A dead monkey was found in a shipping container in Whāngārei, New Zealand this month.A staff member at BBS Timbers discovered the dehydrated monkey body squeezed between sawn timber packs upon opening the fumigated container, which had arrived from Guyana.The facility alerted Biosecurity New Zealand, which advised how to remove the monkey. A biosecurity officer followed up with an inspection and picked up the body for disposal.The monkey body was in a poor condition. The species has not been identified."The whole response worked extremely well.

US Offshore Support Vessel Analysis 2018 and 2019. The US GOM Offshore Support Vessel (OSV) market is suffering, utilization remains poor, and many owners are still squeezed financially. However, a poor market forces people to adapt and for those willing to take risks, the upside can be extremely large.US Owners 2018 vs. 2019: Within the US GOM, 2018 saw a period of strategic thinking and tactical business decisions. Tidewater Marine completed their merger with GulfMark Offshore to create the world’s largest OSV player.

Shane Guidry, CEO of Harvey Gulf International Marine, has announced he has purchased Harvey’s 30 percent ownership in Quality Liquefied Natural Gas Transport (QLNG). The CEO previously owned 70 percent of QLNG with Harvey and now controls 100 percent.In connection with the announcement, Mr. Guidry commented: “QLNG didn’t quite fit into Harvey’s core business and future. At Harvey, we are focused on growing globally, which we’ve done over the last 12 months. Today, we have vessels working in Mexico, Trinidad, Peru, Guyana, Suriname, USA and Nigeria.