Exxon Mobil Corp will shut down two offshore oil production projects in Guyana for two weeks each, between July and August, to connect a natural gas pipeline, the company's country head Alistair Routledge told reporters in Georgetown on Tuesday.
The 140-mile (225-km) pipeline will feed Guyana's $1.9 billion gas-to-power project aimed at ending the country's dependence on imported fuels and at lowering energy costs for residents.
Exxon has said it will halt production to fulfill a commitment made with local authorities to have the pipeline connected by year end, despite delays on the government-run onshore part of the project.
At a press conference to update reporters on the company's works, Routledge said oil discoveries in the past two years were not enough to justify a revision of the estimated 11 billion barrels in recoverable resources at the Stabroek block.
Exxon and partners Hess Corp and CNOOC currently pump all the South American country's oil - 613,000 barrels per day in the first quarter. Six projects at the giant Stabroek block have been approved and their full development would provide more than 1.3 million barrels per day of oil and gas by 2027.
The No. 2 U.S. oil producer, Chevron Corp last October agreed to acquire Hess for about $53 billion in stock. But Exxon and CNOOC this year filed an arbitration case claiming they hold a right to acquire Hess' Guyana assets. That dispute is currently before the International Chamber of Commerce and is not expected to be resolved until late this year.
The proposed pipeline would connect offshore production vessels to a power plant and a natural gas processing facility. The power plant and transmission lines will not be fully operational before end-2025, Guyana officials have previously said.
The offshore portion of the about $1 billion pipeline that is under construction by Exxon is 70% complete, Routledge said.
(Reuters - Reporting by Kemol King; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
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