–working ‘diligently’ to fix gas compressor

PRODUCTION levels at ExxonMobil’s operations offshore Guyana have been reduced in order to accommodate the repair of a gas compressor which became defective recently due to a technical problem related to a seal.
The result of this inoperable compressor has been increased gas flaring, an exercise which does not augur well for the environment. With this being the case, ExxonMobil has started working expeditiously to rectify the problem.
“I wish to assure you that teams of experts from ExxonMobil, SBM Offshore and MAN Turbo are working diligently to fix the compressor and return it to service as quickly as possible,” President of ExxonMobil, Alistair Routledge said in a statement on Friday.

The company said a technical team has safely removed the third-stage compressor from the package enclosure on the Liza Destiny Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO), and is preparing it for transport onshore.
An initial examination reportedly determined that the unit has to be sent for repairs in Germany, where it is expected to arrive on February 9. The full extent of the damage will not be known until a detailed inspection of the compressor is done at the workshop of the manufacturer, MAN Turbo of Germany.
Given that there is no immediate solution to the compressor being out of commission, the company has reduced its production levels at the Liza Destiny.
The company, in 2020, had reduced production to limit flaring offshore; however, this shifted Guyana’s fourth oil lift from November to mid-December. It is unclear at this time whether this exercise will have the same effect this time around.

LOWERED PRODUCTION LEVELS
“We have lowered production levels on the Liza Destiny since the compressor failed, and continue to seek ways to reduce flaring. We are currently injecting, or using 88 per cent of the gas produced from the wells. We share a common interest in responsible management and appropriate standards for development of the country’s natural resources,” Routledge said.
Back in 2019, ExxonMobil had explained to the media that for the first period, after ‘first oil’, there would be initial start-up flaring, as authorised by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which occurs during the commissioning and initial start-up phases of the FPSO when gas and liquids are introduced into new facilities and equipment.
This flaring, it said, would not continue as a routine, and will only take place again in the case of an emergency, whereby flaring will be used to immediately de-pressure the facility as part of a shut-down process to reduce risk.

ExxonMobil Guyana has made 18 discoveries since May 2015, and began production in December 2019 from the Liza Phase One development project.
With the company’s Liza Phase Two development, and the Payara project set to come on stream within the next two years, gas flaring will again be something to pay attention to.
And while the Government of Guyana has already prohibited routine gas flaring at the Payara development project, Executive Director of the Payne Institute for Earth Resources and Research, Professor of Public Policy at the Colorado School of Mines, Dr. Morgan Bazilian had said that general regulatory and technical measures must be implemented to mitigate gas flaring in future projects.

ENVIROMENTALLY BAD
“Yes, flaring itself has environmental impacts, and is a waste of resources; economically and environmentally bad,” said Dr. Bazilian during a virtual session with local reporters in October 2020. He added: “There are technical ways to reduce flaring… but there must be a combination of technical measures which will come in quickly, and regulatory measures.”
Most countries take “a long time” to develop a regulatory framework for gas flaring, but from the expert’s understanding, the projects in Guyana are engineered to have zero routine flaring.
Dr. Bazilian pointed to the “Zero Routine Flaring by 2030” initiative introduced by the World Bank, which brings together Governments, oil companies, and development institutions which recognise the detriments of flaring. According to the World Bank, this initiative pertains to ‘routine flaring’, and not to ‘flaring’ for safety reasons or non-routine flaring, which, nevertheless, should be minimised.

“Routine flaring of gas is flaring during normal oil production operations in the absence of sufficient facilities, or amenable geology to re-inject the produced gas, utilise it on-site, or dispatch it to a market. Venting is not an acceptable substitute for flaring,” said the World Bank. According to the World Bank, during oil production, associated gas is produced from the reservoir together with the oil; much of this gas is utilised or conserved, because governments and oil companies have made substantial investments to capture it, but some of it is flared because of technical, regulatory, or economic constraints. Dr. Bazilian said gas flaring is controlled through power plants, or reinjection into wells, and in Guyana’s case, while ExxonMobil has started reinjection, there are already talks locally to establish a gas-to-energy system.
“We have to make these decisions, but they will be made dependent on the resources available, and what the market offers,” said Vice-President Bharrat Jagdeo in a previous report.
Although many things are still undecided, the Vice-President said the government is certain that it does not want gas flaring to continue.