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Guyana is probably the biggest story in offshore right now, and the country faces the most international scrutiny since the notorious Jonestown Massacre there in 1978, when cult leader Jim Jones led 900 of his followers to their deaths, drinking poisoned Kool Aid.

In 2018, ExxonMobil made its tenth oil discovery offthe Caribbean nation and increased its estimate of the discovered recoverable resource for the Stabroek Block to more than five billion oil-equivalent barrels. Already, the American giant has signed a contract with SBM for an FPSO named Liza Destiny capable of producing 120,000 barrels per day. Installation of subsea umbilicals, risers and flowlines is expected to begin shortly, and the ExxonMobil management has reported that the FPSO will arrive in Guyana between July and September.

ExxonMobil has three deep-water drillships from Stena Drilling and Noble working in the Stabroek Block, supported by a fleet of ten Edison Chouest supply vessels. The drilling of development wells is already underway by the drillship Noble Bob Douglas, and the American supermajor is confident that the FPSO will deliver first oil in 2020. Additional FPSOs may be able to increase production to over 300,000 barrels a day by 2025. A massive windfall in a country of less than 800,000 people, giving Guyana approximately the same oil revenues as Norway per head of population.