Shell and Chevron, as well as Brazil's state major Petrobras, are among the 10 companies that are considering taking part in Guyana's next oil tender, Reuters has reported, citing unnamed sources in the know.
Guyana is offering 14 offshore blocks in the new tender as it seeks to speed up its transformation into a major oil producer and at the same time reduce Exxon's dominance of its emerging oil industry.
The U.S. supermajor, in partnership with Hess Corp., has made more than 30 discoveries in the Stabroek Block offshore Guyana, tapping more than 11 billion barrels in oil reserves.
At the moment, Guyana is producing some 360,000 barrels of crude daily, all from Exxon-operated wells. The country plans to boost this to 1.64 million barrels daily by 2030.
Exports of crude oil from Guyana averaged over 265,000 bpd last year, according to Reuters, a doubling on export rates from a year earlier. Almost half of that was sold to Europe.
To promote the next bidding round, Guyana's Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo will attend this week's CERAWeek conference.
"We see this as big, transformative for our people. We are in a mad rush to get this done before net-zero comes," Jagdeo said, echoing plans by other oil-producing nations to make the most of their fossil fuels while demand is strong.
Yet oil is not Guyana's only bet. The South American nation also has plans to develop its untapped natural gas reserves. Per Vice President Jagdeo, the government had been approached by several companies with the request to be considered should Guyana decide to develop LNG export capacity.
"We believe gas must be monetized," Jagdeo told Reuters in an interview this weekend. "We've had a number of those companies come to us and say 'Should you do that, we want to be considered.'"
By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com
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