America’s supermajor, ExxonMobil Corporation, is putting pressure on the newly-installed Guyanese government to ratify the company’s third oil project in the Stabroek Block, which has been delayed due to political turmoil, according to Reuters.
The original deadline for a final investment decision on the Payara project (FID) was in September. Further, the project was meant to come online in 2023 but with the current delay, it is looking increasingly likely that this deadline will be delayed.
Exxon’s new country head in Guyana, Alistair Routledge, said, “The timely approval of additional proposed projects, including Payara, will ensure that the local workforce and the utilization of local suppliers will continue to grow.”
However, the new Guyanese President Irfaan Ali deems the original terms of the deal as too generous towards the supermajor. The original terms included: a 2% royalty and a 50% profit share. Ali wants to enact stricter rules requiring the company to use more local content and hire more Guyanese labor.
ExxonMobil, which operates the Stabroek block as part of a consortium with Hess Corp and China’s CNOOC Ltd, discovered more than 8 billion barrels (bbbl) of recoverable oil off Guyana’s coast.
