Hess Corporation, ExxonMobil’s partner in the Stabroek Block, has signaled the joint venturer’s intent to have the Field Development Plan (FDP) for its sixth project, Whiptail, submitted later this year for governmental approval.
In the 2023 budget, the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Government had set aside $100.7 million to review the Whiptail FDP when it is submitted.
“A plan of development for our sixth development, Whiptail, is expected to be submitted to government for regulator and government approvals later this year,” Hess Corp Chief Operating Officer (COO) Greg Hill said while giving updates on his company during a recent conference call.
The Whiptail discovery is located approximately 4 miles southeast of the Uaru-1 discovery. It will be ExxonMobil and its coventurers sixth project in the Stabroek Block. Whiptail is expected to target 40-65 development wells, with production levels expected between 220,000 and 275,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd). First oil is expected from this project between the fourth quarter of 2027 and the second quarter of 2028.
Meanwhile, Hill also provided details on past and future developments in Guyana’s waters, from the first Liza Development which is presently producing over 200,000 barrels of oil per day, up to the planned fifth development, Uaru, which recently received government approval.
“We have the potential for up to 10 FPSO’s to develop the discovered resources on the block. The Liza Phase One and Two developments produced an average of approximately 375,000 gross barrels of oil per day in the first quarter. The FPSO for our third sanctioned development, Payara, arrived on the Stabroek Block (last month) ahead of schedule.”
“And is targeted to start up early in the fourth quarter with a gross production capacity of approximately 220,000 barrels of oil per day. The fourth sanctioned development, Yellowtail, is expected to come online in 2025, with a gross production capacity of approximately 250,000 barrels of oil per day,” the COO further said.
An FDP outlines how an oil company plans to develop the oil field while also mitigating environmental damage. United Kingdom (UK) company Bayphase Limited reviewed the last FDP for ExxonMobil’s fourth project – the US$9 Billion Yellowtail Project.
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). ExxonMobil, 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 target a mammoth 250,000 bpd. ExxonMobil also received approval for Uaru, its fifth project in Guyana’s waters, only last week.
