<article><p class="lead">ExxonMobil has restored crude production offshore Guyana to 80,000 b/d after correcting a technical glitch, according to the head of the country's environmental agency EPA Vincent Adams.</p><p>A <a href="https://www2.argusmedia.com/en/news/2114176-exxonmobil-working-to-fix-offshore-guyana-glitch?backToResults=true">problem with compression equipment</a> had slashed output at the Liza field by 65pc to 27,500 b/d last week, compared with early May.</p><p>ExxonMobil is flaring less natural gas and reinjecting more, leading to the production increase at the deepwater Stabroek block, Adams told <i>Argus</i>.</p><p>"With gas reinjection on line, we are able to ramp up production and reduce flaring," ExxonMobil said, adding that it cannot confirm Adams' production figure. "As a matter of practice, we do not comment on day to day details of our operations."</p><p>"We have two of the three gas handling systems on line and are currently injecting or using 85pc of the produced gas from the reservoir," ExxonMobil said.</p><p>"Once the system is fully commissioned, we will be able to produce at full capacity."</p><p>Guyana's energy department had projected reaching 120,000 b/d, the capacity of the offshore production platform deployed at the field, by June.</p><p>Shell is scheduled to lift the Guyanese government's third 1mn bl crude entitlement in July. </p><p>The energy department will issue a short list by 25 June of the bidders selected to make technical and financial proposals for a one-year contract to market the government's share of crude and will handle a minimum of five 1mn bl cargoes in 2020-21.</p><p>ExxonMobil started production on Stabroek in December 2019. The US major estimates recoverable resources at Stabroek of 8bn barrels of oil equivalent (boe) and has projected reaching 750,000 b/d in 2020. But the forecast was already subject to adjustment in the wake of the global oil price and demand collapse this year.</p><p>There is uncertainty over Guyana's future oil policy as the country's opposition party has taken the lead in a vote recount from a 2 March parliamentary election.</p><p>The election commission is expected to make a formal declaration of the winner by the end of this week.</p><p class="bylines">By Canute James</p></article>
