Guyana has estimated its future oil production at 1 million barrels per day by 2027, from seven floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSOs) vessels in country, according to natural resources minister Vickram Bharrat said on Tuesday, cited by Argus.

For now, Guyana is producing 130,000 bpd from ExxonMobil’s Liza-1 well, which just reached full planned production capacity in March. Exxon expects that well to be producing as much as 750,000 bpd by 2026.

Exxon estimated in December that it will have 5 FPSOs by 2026 with as many as 10 shortly thereafter.

Guyana is the world’s newest oil hotspot, with as many as 10 appraisal and exploration wells to be drilled there this year. Exxon and its partners in Guyana’s prolific Stabroek Block have made more than a dozen quality discoveries since 2019. That block is thought to contain more than eight billion barrels of recoverable oil resources.

Liza-2 is also expected to start up soon, by mid-2022, at an estimated rate of 220,000 barrels per day.

As the tiny Latin American country picks up the pace with its oil production, it is becoming a top investment destination for the global oil and gas industry, according to Bharrat.

Guyana is now working on its oil policies to protect itself from the possible negative effects that often go hand in hand with an oil-rich nation. Guyana hopes to have new petroleum legislation and a new regulatory body to regulate its fledgling industry, which it plans to have in place before the end of the year.

Guyana has found itself in the media crosshairs for negotiating a potentially poor deal with Exxon in the beginning stages of oil exploration.

By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com