Guyana's Uaru Gold crude to debut as fourth medium-sweet grade

Guyana's Uaru Gold crude, expected to hit the market in December, will be another medium-sweet grade with a quality most similar to that of Guyana's flagship Liza crude.

Uaru Gold will have an API of 31.5 and a sulfur content of 0.54%, according to a preliminary assay seen by Platts, part of S&P Global Energy, on Oct. 14.

ExxonMobil did not reply to a request for comment on the assay. The company leads the consortium developing Guyana's Stabroek Block, which is also the origin of the other four Guyanese crudes in production -- Liza, Unity Gold, Payara Gold, and Golden Arrowhead.

The consortium consists of ExxonMobil, with a 45% stake, alongside Chevron and CNOOC as partners with stakes of 30% and 25%, respectively.

Liza crude has an API of 32 and sulfur content of 0.58%; Unity Gold has an API of 34 and a sulfur content of 0.41%; Payara Gold has an API of 29 and a sulfur content of 0.60%; and Golden Arrowhead has an API of 36.5 and a sulfur content of 0.25%.

Uaru Gold will be produced from the Errea Wittu, which is Guyana's fifth floating production, storage and offloading vessel. The Errea Wittu FPSO was designed to add roughly 250,000 barrels/day and will push Guyana's crude output above 1 million b/d for the first time.

So far, the Stabroek Block is producing well over 850,000 b/d of oil from four developments: Liza Phase One, which began producing around 150,000 b/d from the Destiny FPSO in December 2019; Liza Phase Two, which began producing around 240,000 b/d from the Unity FPSO in February 2022; Payara, which began producing at least 220,000 b/d from the Prosperity FPSO in November 2023; and Yellowtail, which began producing at least 250,000 b/d from the One Guyana FPSO.

By 2030, ExxonMobil Guyana expects to have total production capacity of 1.7 million b/d of oil equivalent from eight developments.