Liza Gas Pipeline

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Liza Gas Pipeline is a proposed natural gas pipeline in Guyana.

Location

The pipeline would run from the Liza field in Guyana's offshore Stabroek Oil and Gas Block to the proposed Wales Power Station in the Essequibo Islands-West Demerara region of Guyana.

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Project Details

• Operator: ExxonMobil Guyana
• Owner: ExxonMobil Guyana
• Parent Company: ExxonMobil
• Proposed capacity: 50 million cubic feet per day
• Length: 140 miles / 225 km
• Status: Proposed
• Start Year: 2024

Background

The Liza Gas Pipeline is part of a gas-to-power project linking the Guyana's offshore Stabroek Oil and Gas Block to the proposed 300 MW Wales Power Station on the Guyanese mainland.

A 2015 analysis by ExxonMobil estimated that the Liza field contained approximately 456 million stock tank barrels (MMSTB) of oil and 3.5 TCF of gas that would be extractable over a 25-year period. Gas extracted from the field was initially to be used to power oil extraction, scheduled for 2020.

Exxon began commercial oil production at the Liza field in December 2019, and in early 2020, the company increased its estimates of recoverable resources off Guyana's coast to over 8 billion oil equivalent barrels. As of June 2020 plans for a gas pipeline connecting the Liza field with Guyana's mainland remained on hold. However, the project was still being actively considered by Guyana's Ministry of Public Infrastructure, and the Inter-American Development Bank was reportedly prepared to fund feasibility studies for placement of the pipeline and a gas-fired power station on Guyana's coastline.

In 2021, the Guyanese government announced plans to reroute the pipeline to a new natural gas-to-shore facility on the site of the abandoned Wales Estate Sugar Processing Plant, where the proposed 250 MW Wales power station would be built. Gas was originally expected to start flowing through the US$500 to $800 million pipeline as early as 2023, though the expected completion date has subsequently been pushed back to 2024.

In July 2021, permitting began for the gas-to-power project. In January 2022, ExxonMobil Guyana's president Alistair Routledge expressed hopes that a final investment decision for the pipeline would be made during the first half of 2022, with construction to begin as early as August 2022.

In response to Guyana's ever-increasing gas production, Minister of Natural Resources Vickram Bharrat suggested in May 2022 that a second gas pipeline might eventually be constructed from the country's offshore fields to the mainland, though details remained sketchy.

In February 2022, first production began at Liza Phase 2, with production at the floating, production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel expected to reach its target of 220,000 barrels of oil later in the year. Later in 2022, ExxonMobil's affiliate Esso Exploration and Production Guyana (EEPGL) appointed a consortium, comprised of Dutch maritime construction company Van Oord and Luxembourg-based engineering company Subsea 7, to manage and engineer the gas-to-power project. Guyana also launched a tender to choose a marketing agent for its share of Liza crude oil exports.

As of early 2023, ExxonMobil Guyana had sumitted a revised development plan for the Liza field and pipeline to Guyana's Ministry of Natural Resources, and was awaiting clearance of regulatory hurdles before making a final investment decision (FID) on the project. In the meantime, company president Alistair Routledge confirmed that ExxonMobil Guyana would continue developing other associated infrastructure, including roads and bridges, in an effort to keep the project on track for commissioning in 2024.

In April 2023, Guyana's vice president announced that the government was preparing to issue a revised permit for development of the Liza field, covering the 20-year period requested by ExxonMobil and extending development rights until at least 2044. In May 2023, ExxonMobil signed a contract with US-based Trendsetter Engineering to acquire TCS subsea valves and connectors, hubs, pressure caps and tooling for the pipeline project, which appeared to remain on track for a late 2024 completion date. Other companies, including Subsea 7, Van Oord and TechnipFMC, had reportedly been contracted to provide project management, engineering, procurement, construction and installation of pipelines and pipeline risers for the project, although it remained unclear as of July 2023 whether construction had actually begun.

Opposition

Critics have questioned the financial viability of building the Liza Gas Pipeline and the associated Wales Power Station, suggesting that solar electricity would offer a more cost-effective way to satisfy Guyana's electrical demand.