By Kemol King
GEORGETOWN (Reuters) – A consortium led by Exxon Mobil has requested environmental permits from Guyana for its eighth project, the first that will generate gas not linked to oil production, and to explore another well at its massive offshore block, the head of the U.S. oil major in Guyana said on Wednesday.
The group is getting ready for a very active year in the South American nation following upgrades that boosted the capacity of two of its three floating facilities, and the expected arrival of a fourth vessel in the coming weeks, which will expand its total output capacity to around 940,000 barrels per day (bpd), Alistair Routledge, president of Exxon Guyana, said in a press conference.
The consortium, which includes Hess and CNOOC, is responsible for all production in Guyana. It aims to lift production capacity to more than 1.7 million bpd by the end of 2029 once its first seven offshore projects are online, Routledge said.
In 2030, the eighth project, Longtail, is expected to add up to 250,000 barrels per day of crude output capacity and 1 billion cubic feet per day of gas production, he added.
Guyana has been pressing Exxon to produce and deliver more natural gas, part of the government’s strategy to rely on the fuel for power generation, to industrialize the country and begin petrochemical and liquefied natural gas (LNG) businesses that can expand revenue.
The consortium recently completed a long-awaited appraisal of its gas resources, which will allow a more accurate calculation of total resources available for output, said Routledge.
“All of that data is now being put back into the geologic models, reservoir models, in order to inform us of what sort of upstream development might be possible,” he said.
The study could help integrate Exxon’s efforts with a large development awarded by Guyana to Fulcrum LNG last year, aimed at designing and building the country’s first LNG project.
Routledge said Exxon has not had recent conversations with the company.
Guyana’s economy achieved its fifth consecutive year of double-digit growth in 2024, expanding 43.6%, driven by crude production. Oil output rose to an average of 616,000 bpd from 391,000 bpd the previous year.
PROJECTS IN A ROW
The Exxon group’s fourth project, Yellowtail, is on track to start up soon upon arrival of a floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) facility from Singapore, built by SBM Offshore, the company said.
The consortium’s fifth, sixth and seventh projects – Uaru, Whiptail and Hammerhead – are expected to inaugurate output between 2026 and 2029.
“This year, we’ll actually be undergoing installation activities, which have started for Uaru. We’ll be doing some for Whiptail, as well as completing the work on the Yellowtail project,” Routledge said.
A new offshore block that the consortium won in a bidding round in 2023 is expected to be analyzed to determine if it is economically viable once formally awarded.
The group could pursue carbon capture there regardless of the presence of hydrocarbons, Routledge said. The potential project follows a government revision of oil laws in 2021, which added a new framework for carbon capture and storage licensing.
(Reporting by Kemol King, writing by Marianna Parraga; Editing by Peter Henderson, Bill Berkrot and Marguerita Choy)
