The search for a consultant to review the evaluation of ExxonMobil’s Field Development Plan (FDP) for its Uaru field, has been narrowed down to two companies – one an English company, the other Egyptian.
According to tender documents from the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB), Bayphase Limited and Strat Oil are the two companies seeking to review the FDP for what will be Exxon’s fifth oil development in Guyana’s waters.
An FDP outlines how an oil company plans to develop the oil field while also mitigating environmental phenomena. Bayphase Limited, a company based in the United Kingdom (UK), is no stranger to Guyana. In fact, it was Bayphase that reviewed the FDP for ExxonMobil’s fourth project – the US$9 billion Yellowtail Project.
Bayphase’s history with Guyana extends even further, having also conducted the review into the FDP for Payara, Exxon’s third development. The Energy Department contracted Bayphase to conduct a review of the Payara FDP in December 2019.
The review was completed but in the wake of the controversies that followed the March 2, 2020 elections, the FDP was not approved until September 2020, after their work was reviewed by a team of consultants led by former Alberta Premier Allison Redford.
Meanwhile, Strat Oil is an Egyptian company headquartered in Cairo, Egypt. It provides training for workers in the oil and gas industry, through courses, consultations, and webinars. Its clients include the Egyptian Government itself.
The Uaru oil development is targeting between 38 and 63 development wells, including production, water injection, and gas re-injection wells. John Hess, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of ExxonMobil’s Stabroek Block co-venture partner Hess Corporation, recently said that they are hopeful of getting approval for Uaru by March 2023. Exxon had previously also made known that they anticipate first oil from the Uaru development by late 2026 or early 2027.
Last year, it was announced that $88 million had been approved for a consultancy firm to review the Uaru Field Development Plan (FDP). Natural Resources Minister Vickram Bharrat had made that revelation during the consideration of estimates and expenditures for the Natural Resources Ministry in the Committee of Supply.
Guyana, with US oil giant ExxonMobil as the operator, began producing oil on December 20, 2019, in the Stabroek Block. Guyana’s oil revenues are being held in the Natural Resource Fund (NRF) at the New York Federal Reserve Bank, where it is earning interest.
The oil-rich Stabroek Block, which is producing the oil, is 6.6 million acres (26,800 square kilometres). Exxon, through its local subsidiary Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL), is the operator and holds 45 per cent interest in the Block. Hess Guyana Exploration Ltd holds 30 per cent interest, and CNOOC Petroleum Guyana Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of CNOOC Limited, holds the remaining 25 per cent interest.
ExxonMobil has said it anticipates at least six projects offshore Guyana will be online by 2027. Production has already started in the second phase, with the Liza Unity FPSO vessel in operation.
The third project – the Payara development – will target an estimated resource base of about 600 million oil-equivalent barrels, and was at one point considered to be the largest single planned investment in the history of Guyana.
Meanwhile, the Yellowtail development, which will be oil giant ExxonMobil’s fourth development in Guyana’s waters, will turn out to be the single largest development so far in terms of barrels per day of oil, with a mammoth 250,000 bpd targeted.
