Guyana’s oil and gas bid round stirs global interest

Guyana has attracted bids for eight of the 14 offshore oil and gas concessions on offer from global energy giants in the country’s first auction, Reuters reported on Wednesday.

According to the Ministry of Natural Resources, ExxonMobil, Hess Corporation and China National Offshore Oil Corporation have bid as a group as well as a consortium consisting of TotalEnergies, Qatar Energy and Malaysia’s Petronas.

ExxonMobil, who is currently the largest E&P company operating in Guyana, has bid for concessions alongside Hess Corporation and China National Offshore Oil Corporation.

Other consortiums that have placed bids include one formed by Delcorp, Watad Energy and Arabian Drillers, another by Liberty Petroleum and Cybele Energy, and a final group composed of International Group Investment and Montego Energy.

Guyana’s Sispro bid on a concession by itself.

The government is currently assessing the offers and intends to close the bid round and award contracts on November 1, 2023.

Guyana launched its first offshore hydrocarbons bid round in December 2022, and has re-extending its deadline several times.

The concessions include 11 shallow-water and three deepwater blocks.

The shallow-water assets are located in the Guyana-Suriname basin adjacent to the prolific Stabroek block in which ExxonMobil has encountered 11 billion boe in recoverable resources.

The deepwater concessions lie northeast of the Canje block and east of the Kaieteur block.

Concessions on offer range between 1,000 square kilometres and 3,000 square kilometres, with an average of 2,000 square kilometres.

Guyana is now Latin America’s seventh largest producer, with current production and export of 380,000 boepd of oil and gas.

In August 2023, the American energy giant submitted plans for its sixth project on the Stabroek concession, named the Whiptail project.

The company and its partners finalised the FID on the Uaru project – the fifth Guyana project – in April 2023.

ExxonMobil plans on producing 1.2 million boepd by 2027.

ExxonMobil operates the Stabroek block with a 45% stake, while partners Hess Corporation holds a 30% stake and China National Offshore Oil Corporation holds the remaining 25% stake.