Guyana's oil output rose to 685,000 barrels per day in August

By Kemol King

GEORGETOWN, Sept 24 (Reuters) - Guyana's oil production increased to 685,000 barrels per day in August from 664,000 bpd the previous month, boosted by the start-up of the fourth floating output facility in the South American country, government data seen on Wednesday showed.

A consortium led by U.S. energy major Exxon Mobil XOM.N, which controls all oil and gas output in Guyana, earlier this year received the Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) facility One Guyana, which expanded output capacity beyond 900,000 bpd.

The new facility, which began output on August 7, produced an average of 75,000 bpd last month and delivered its first 1-million-barrel crude cargo for export in late August, according to the data and a notice from Guyana's maritime regulator.

The nation's oil output averaged 648,000 bpd in the first eight months of the year, an increase from 597,000 bpd in the same period last year.

The government's oil fund received $212.88 million last month from the sale of oil cargoes, bringing the total amount received so far this year to $1.65 billion, according to separate official data.

Exxon said earlier this week that it had made a positive investment decision for the group's seventh project in Guyana, called Hammerhead, a step towards its goal of producing 1.7 million barrels of oil equivalent per day by 2030 in the country.