ExxonMobil and its partners have commenced production from the Payara field offshore Guyana.

Located at a water depth of around 2,000m in the Stabroek block, the field is expected to bring the total production capacity in Guyana waters to approximately 620,000bpd.

Prosperity, a floating, production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel, is producing oil from the Payara project.

The vessel is designed to have an initial production capacity of around 220,000 barrels of oil per day (bopd) and a storage capacity of around two million barrels of crude oil.

Additionally, the SBM Offshore-built FPSO has a gas treatment capacity of around 400 million cubic feet a day and a water injection capacity of 250,000bpd.

Prosperity is the third FPSO in the Stabroek block after the Liza Destiny and Liza Unity FPSOs.

ExxonMobil Guyana operates the Stabroek block with a 45% stake while other partners include Hess Guyana Exploration (Hess) with a 30% stake, and CNOOC Petroleum Guyana with a 25% interest.

In a press statement, Hess said: “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 ten FPSOs to develop the estimated gross discovered recoverable resources of more than 11 billion barrels of oil equivalent.”

The partners are developing the Yellowtail and Uaru, the fourth and fifth FPSO projects. Each of these projects is expected to have a production capacity of approximately 250,000bopd.

ExxonMobil Upstream Company president Liam Mallon said: “Each new project supports economic development and access to resources that will benefit Guyanese communities while also helping to meet the world’s energy demand.

“We are pleased to work in partnership with the Guyanese Government to make reliable energy accessible and sustainable.”