Guyana will have its fifth floating, production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel in the second half of 2026, Minister of Natural Resources, Vickram Bharrat revealed on Tuesday.
The vessel, dubbed Errea Wittu, meaning “abundance,” is being constructed by the Japanese shipbuilder MODEC. It will operate in Guyana’s deep waters at the Uaru project, which is said to hold 800 million barrels of oil in the Stabroek Block. The FPSO is expected to produce approximately 250,000 barrels of oil per day under the management of an ExxonMobil-led consortium.
Bharrat provided confirmation on the ship’s arrival on Tuesday evening during the consideration of his ministry’s 2026 budget estimates for capital and current expenditure in the Committee of Supply.
The minister faced several queries from the political opposition about the increase in a line item for petroleum management, specifically an allocation of $900 million for 2026 versus $343.8 million expended in the previous year.
The minister explained that part of this allocation will cover costs associated with oversight staff aboard the Liza Destiny, Liza Unity, Prosperity and ONE GUYANA FPSOs in the Stabroek Block. It also covers the staff that would be needed for the fifth ship.
Bharrat noted that the staff comprises four officers, one pulled from each of the following agencies: the Guyana National Bureau of Standards, the Guyana Revenue Authority, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the Ministry of Natural Resources.
“…Their task is to ensure that the offloading of crude into the tankers is done in compliance with GNBS standards for the calibration of the metering system and monitoring of the quality of crude, that is, both the crude produced and the crude dispensed,” said the minister.
If those officers are not present, Bharrat stressed that ExxonMobil nor its partners, Chevron (which recently acquired Hess), and CNOOC cannot offload crude as per the terms of the crude lifting agreement. While the offshore staff is expected to increase, Bharrat said the bulk of the $900 million will go towards demurrage costs. He said this has always beencatered for since oil production started in 2020.
The minister explained that tankers coming into the Stabroek block have 36 hours to load crude from the FPSOs, then leave for their respective destinations. He explained that it takes approximately 24 hours to load one million barrels of oil from an FPSO, with the additional 12 hours catering for any minor weather disruptions. If the vessel takes longer to leave due to difficult offshore conditions, a cost is incurred. This is referred to as demurrage fees, which are determined by the off-taker of the crude and the tanker company. He noted that Guyana is responsible for 12.5 per cent of the costs incurred.
The minister explained that $500 million is set aside to cover those costs for 2026. “Whatever remains goes back into the Consolidated Fund, as we did in 2025, 2024, and I believe 2023 as well,” the Natural Resources Minister said.