U.S. oil major ExxonMobil has made a final investment decision for its fourth and largest oil field development offshore Guyana - the Yellowtail - after receiving government and regulatory approvals.
ExxonMobil said that the Yellowtail project in the Stabroek Block is expected to produce about 250,000 barrels of oil per day starting in 2025. The company also shared that the FPSO to be built for the project would be named ONE GUYANA.
As reported previously, Dutch FPSO supplier SBM Offshore in November 2021 said it had won a contract to perform Front End Engineering and Design (FEED) for the Yellowtail FPSO. The company at the time said this would be SBM Offshore's largest-ever FPSO.
This will be Guyana's fourth FPSO, and the fourth delivered by SBM Offshore, after Liza Destiny, Liza Unity, and the under-construction Prosperity.
"Yellowtail production from the ONE GUYANA floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel will develop an estimated resource of more than 900 million barrels of oil. The $10 billion project will include six drill centers and up to 26 production and 25 injection wells," ExxonMobil said Monday.
In Guyana's Stabroek offshore block, ExxonMobil has so far discovered a recoverable resource of more than 10 billion oil-equivalent barrels. The company anticipates up to 10 projects on the Stabroek Block to develop this resourcdisappointed
"Development of projects and continued exploration success offshore are enabling the steady advancement of Guyanese capabilities and enhanced economic growth. More than 3,500 Guyanese are supporting ExxonMobil’s activities in Guyana, an increase of more than 50% since 2019," ExxonMobil said.
According to the company, ExxonMobil and direct contractors have spent more than $600 million with more than 880 local suppliers since 2015.
ExxonMobil affiliate Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited is operator and holds 45% interest in the Stabroek Block. Hess Guyana Exploration Ltd. holds 30% interest and CNOOC Petroleum Guyana Limited holds 25% interest.
In a separate statement, Hess said its share of development costs, excluding pre-sanction costs and FPSO purchase cost, is forecast to be approximately US$2.3 billion, of which approximately US$210 million is expected in 2022, US$430 million in 2023, US$585 million in 2024, US$390 million in 2025 and US$295 million in 2026.
10 FPSOs in one block
The Liza Phase 1 development, utilizing the Liza Destiny FPSO, began production in December 2019 and was Guyana's first ever offshore oil facility in production. Hess said the FPSO's production capacity is expected to increase to more than 140,000 gross barrels of oil per day following production optimization work currently underway.
The Liza Phase 2 development, using the Liza Unity FPSO, began production in February 2022 and is expected to reach its production capacity of 220,000 gross barrels of oil per day later this year as operations are safely brought online.
The third development on the block at Payara is on track for production startup in 2024, utilizing the Prosperity FPSO with a production capacity of approximately 220,000 gross barrels of oil per day.
Hess said that at least six FPSOs with a production capacity of more than 1 million gross barrels of oil per day are expected to be online on the Stabroek Block in 2027, with the potential for up to 10 FPSOs to develop gross discovered recoverable resources of more than 10 billion barrels of oil equivalent.