AFTER an incredible year of discoveries and developments in Guyana’s emerging energy sector, many Guyanese are naturally wondering what comes next on the road to first oil in 2020 and additional phases of development.

In terms of development, the first floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel will leave its Singapore shipyard for Guyana sometime in mid-2019. The Liza Destiny will be the 120,000 barrel-per-day production platform for the Liza Phase 1 development and is expected to be in place by late 2019.

Exxon and its partners will also be making a final investment decision (FID) for Liza Phase 2 sometime in 2019, pending approval of their government-issued permits. This decision is a critical precursor to actually developing Phase 2 and hinges on regulatory approval and other factors.

Considering the healthy progress of Liza Phase 1 and strong success of exploration drilling elsewhere on the block, Exxon’s FID is widely expected to proceed, barring unforeseen political or regulatory obstacles that make investment risky or impose excessive limitations.
The consortium and Exxon will also continue an ambitious exploration program in the eastern area of the Stabroek Block, which has had 10 successful finds to date.

Throughout all or part of 2019, three state-of-the-art drillships contracted from Noble Corporation and Stena Drilling—the Noble Bob Douglas, Noble Tom Madden and the Stena Carron—will be exploring these prospects under contract with Exxon.

Big news is also expected in offshore areas beyond the Stabroek. International oil analysts at Wood Mackenzie expect that both the Kanuku and Orinduik blocks will see drilling by Repsol and Tullow Oil over the next 12-18 months. Tullow has publicly said that it expects to strike oil offshore, where it owns 60 per cent equity in the Orinduik.

On land, the Natural Resources Fund (Sovereign Wealth Fund) and local content policy framework are expected to increasingly be the focus for business and legislators.
Local firms will continue to benefit from contracts with the Exxon-led consortium and their suppliers like Saipem, TechnipFMC, Noble, and Stena. The Centre for Local Business Development (CLBD) will continue to train and offer support for local businesses.

Capacity-building for Guyana’s workforce will likely be a priority as well, since relatively few companies have the hyper-specialized experience and certifications needed to function in the industry. But several firms have been working aggressively to change that through training and certification with the help of the Centre for Local Business Development.

Many firms are also forming or seeking joint ventures with international firms to combine local workforce and knowledge with the deep industry expertise and capital that can only be found abroad.

The Guyana International Petroleum Exhibition and Summit (GIPEX) will be one such opportunity to find and build those kind of relationships, with more than 600 delegates from 200 countries interested in exploring business opportunities in South America’s newest oil region.

2019 will likely be the year that many Guyanese [will] start to see evidence of those opportunities first hand—in the forms of increased visitors, more jobs, and more money flowing into the country and creating economic benefits.

That makes it more important than ever that Guyana’s government, people, and business leaders do as much as they can to prepare the country in terms of increasing local capacity, building fair regulatory structures, and establishing procedures for responsible wealth management, like the Natural Resources Fund.

2019 will be a revolutionary year for energy in Guyana. With the right steps, the country will be well positioned to enter a new chapter of its history as a major oil producer with a place on the international stage.