The Guyana Oil and Gas Energy Chamber (GOGEC) has welcomed the arrival of the Errea Wittu, the country's fifth floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel. The unit is expected to lift national oil output above one million barrels a day.

The vessel was built for the Uaru development in the Stabroek Block. Its name means "Abundance" in the Warrau language, and GOGEC said the choice recognises Guyana's Indigenous heritage. It joins the Liza Destiny, Liza Unity, Prosperity and ONE GUYANA, which are already operating offshore.

MODEC, the Japanese contractor, built the Errea Wittu and delivers its first FPSO for Guyana with it. The vessel left Singapore in June after construction and commissioning work, and the Ministry of Natural Resources said it arrived on 21 August. It will be moored about 200 kilometres offshore in 1,690 metres of water and can store around two million barrels of crude. MODEC said it will undergo final offshore preparations and commissioning before first oil.

The Errea Wittu is designed to produce about 250,000 barrels a day at peak capacity. The Stabroek Block currently produces approximately 900,000 barrels a day, and President Irfaan Ali has put output from the four operating vessels at between 900,000 and 920,000. Adding the new unit would take Guyana past one million barrels a day for the first time.

Officials have given different timings for the start of production. GOGEC and the ministry both cited September 2026. Vickram Bharrat, the Minister of Natural Resources, has separately said that first oil is expected in the fourth quarter.

The Uaru project is valued at US$12.7 billion and targets more than 800 million barrels of recoverable oil. The plan includes up to 10 drill centres and 44 wells. ExxonMobil Guyana Limited holds a 45 per cent stake in the Stabroek Block and acts as its operator. Chevron holds 30 per cent following its acquisition of Hess, and CNOOC Petroleum Guyana Limited holds the remaining 25 per cent.

The vessel has a gas treatment capacity of 540 million cubic feet a day. The government has pointed to two design features aimed at limiting emissions. A combined-cycle gas turbine is meant to improve the efficiency of power generation, and a closed-loop flare system is meant to restrict emissions during operations.

Alistair Routledge, president of ExxonMobil Guyana, said the delivery followed years of planning and the work of thousands of people worldwide. He noted that although this is the fifth FPSO to reach Guyana since 2019, the process has not become routine.

GOGEC said it was pleased to see its members in significant roles in the Uaru development, and it recognised MODEC, which is among them. The chamber expects the project to bring gains in local business participation, employment, skills development and technology transfer across the energy sector. The government has also said it will seek further local content opportunities for Guyanese workers and businesses as output approaches one million barrels a day.

ExxonMobil said when it sanctioned Uaru in 2023 that it was targeting six FPSOs on the Stabroek Block by the end of 2027, with combined capacity above 1.2 million barrels a day. The sixth unit is intended for the Whiptail project, which follows Uaru. The Errea Wittu is therefore the fifth of those six vessels, and the pace of installation will determine how quickly that capacity arrives.

The sources do not say how long commissioning will take once the vessel is on location. The interval between arrival and first oil on earlier projects has varied, and it will decide when the one million barrel threshold is crossed. Production figures from the Ministry of Natural Resources and ExxonMobil Guyana will show when that happens.

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