Guyana crude cargo trades for the first time in Platts MOC; assessments began in 2021

A cargo of crude oil to load in Guyana traded for the first time through the Platts Market on Close assessment process, a milestone achieved exactly three years after Platts began assessing Guyanese crude.

The trade occurred after Totsa marked interest in a 1-million-barrel cargo of Liza crude offered by ExxonMobil at a discount of $1.60/b to Dated Brent. Both counterparties confirmed the trade and the cargo is set to load March 18-19 from the Liza Unity FPSO offshore Guyana.

Platts assessed Liza at minus $1.60/b to the 30-60 day forward Dated Brent strip, at the traded level, a 60 cents/b decline on the day. Payara Gold was also assessed lower by 60 cents/b to minus $1.60/b, with Unity Gold assessed at minus $1.45/b.

In recent days trading sources have said that, even though offer levels for Guyanese crudes have increased, they have remained under pressure as production ramps up and uncertainly mounts over global crude flows.

One trader noted that refiners on the USWC seemed to be in a "wait-and-see-mode" ahead of the expected start of Canada's Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion, or TMX, in the second quarter.

The Liza MOC trade comes after Platts announced Nov. 3 that it would consider information from ExxonMobil Sales and Supply, LLC in the Platts MOC for the Americas, specifically in the physical Latin America and Caribbean crude cargoes market. Since then, ExxonMobil has offered all three of the Guyanese crude grades currently in production through the Platts MOC -- Liza, Unity Gold and Payara Gold.

Platts first launched its Liza crude assessment on Feb. 16, 2021, after first oil in December of 2019. Platts followed with assessments of Unity Gold on Aug. 1, 2023, and of Payara Gold, on Dec. 1, 2023.

With Payara entering production, Guyana has already become one of Latin America's dominant crude producers. Payara reached maximum gross capacity of 220,000 b/d in January, just two months after startup, Hess said Jan. 31. Liza, Unity Gold and Payara all come from an ExxonMobil led consortium producing in the Stabroek block. ExxonMobil holds a 45% stake in the group, with Hess and China's CNOOC holding the remaining positions.

With Payara up and running, Guyana's crude production is expected to pass 600,000 b/d this year. Stabroek's fourth and fifth developments, Yellowtail and Uaru, will each have 250,000 b/d of production capacity and are anticipated to come online in 2025 and 2026 respectively.

In October 2023, ExxonMobil submitted the field development plan for the sixth Stabroek oil development, Whiptail, to Guyana's government. Whiptail was envisioned with a preliminary start date of 2027 and production capacity also of 250,000 b/d.

ExxonMobil has stated publicly that Guyana's crude production is expected to reach 1.2 million b/d by 2027.

Platts is part of S&P Global Commodity Insights.