Exxon Mobil has succeeded in restoring crude oil production in its upstream project off of Guyana's coast after problems with its gas reinjection equipment, according to Vincent Adams, Head of Guyana's Environmental Protection Agency.

Output at the offshore Liza field, which Exxon operates in a consortium with Hess Corp and CNOOC Ltd has been restored to between 80,000-90,000 barrels per day (bpd), after falling to between 25,000-30,000 bpd.

Without the compressor fully functioning in order to reinject gas produced alongside the crude into the reservoir, Exxon had to reduce crude output to avoid exceeding a 15 million-cubic feet per day limit agreed to with authorities for gas flaring, Adams said.

“Operations remain steady as we work to safely commission the remainder of our gas compression system,” Exxon spokesman Todd Spitler said in a statement.

Guyana, a poor country with no history of oil output, joined the ranks of the world’s crude producers in December. Exxon and its partners have discovered more than 8 billion barrels of oil equivalent in recoverable resources off the coast, and before the equipment issues had planned for output to rise to 120,000 bpd by June.

Plans to build a gas pipeline from Guyana's offshore Stabroek block to the coast have not yet materialized.