By Lisa Hamilton

BY September, ExxonMobil is tentatively hoping to meet its full capacity of producing 120,000 barrels of oil per day as final commission to its gas compressor system is ongoing.

For the last month, ExxonMobil has been producing between 80,000-90,000 barrels of oil per day while re-injecting 85 per cent of the produced gas. The beneath-target operations have been ongoing since mid-May when the company encountered issues with its gas compressor after it increased production.

At a media meeting on Wednesday, President of ExxonMobil Guyana, Alistair Routledge, said that the last part of the system that ExxonMobil is working to commission is the flash gas compressor. Flash gas compressors are used in oil handling facilities to compress gas that is “flashed” from a hydrocarbon liquid when the liquid flows from a higher pressure to a lower pressure separator.

“That’s the last sort of little bit of gas that we need to capture in getting to the injection system,” he said.

The recently appointed president of the company’s local office said that ExxonMobil’s team offshore is working day and night to arrive at the “pilot flare” level of operation whereby minor flaring would be conducted only when absolutely necessary.

Recent reports have highlighted that, as a result of the faulty gas compressor, ExxonMobil flared billions of cubic feet of natural gas, a level which has been reducing over time, alleviated with the option of gas re-injection.

Key specialist technicians were required to repair the units but, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, repairs were initially delayed to observe travel restrictions, safety and isolation protocols. The technicians had to first pass through travel restrictions and undergo a two-week COVID-19 screening process.

Though authorised by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to conduct ‘start-up flaring’ – a common practice when gas and liquids are introduced into new facilities and equipment – the issues encountered with the compressor were unexpected.

“It’s not where we would want to be at this stage, but I have to say that the crew has done a remarkable job. I’m sure we would have been on top of this earlier, had it not been for COVID, which has severely hampered the ability to move people offshore, to get equipment moved around the world; it really has slowed things down for us,” Routledge said.

Addressing when ExxonMobil could meet its target of 120,000 barrels per day, he continued: “If we resolve everything that we have and [meet] all the plans that we have in the September timeframe, by the end of the month, I’m hopeful we can get there.”