The Guyana government has engaged British consultancy Bayphase to help review ExxonMobil’s proposed Hammerhead oil development, Natural Resources Minister, Vickram Bharrat, said on Monday.
In an invited comment, Bharrat told OilNOW the field development plan (FDP) for Hammerhead, ExxonMobil’s seventh project in the offshore Stabroek Block, was submitted before Guyana’s September 1 elections. The Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) had been filed earlier, and both documents are now under government review.
There is no fixed timeframe for approval, Bharrat said. Bayphase has assisted Guyana in assessing previous Exxon projects.
Hammerhead is designed to produce about 150,000 barrels of oil per day (b/d) starting in 2029. It is part of Exxon’s line-up of eight projects offshore the South American nation. Four are already producing, and two more – Uaru and Whiptail – are slated to come online between 2026 and 2028.
The current installed capacity from the producing developments exceeds 900,000 b/d, a figure expected to be reached in actual output once the recently launched Yellowtail project is fully ramped up. Uaru and Whiptail are set to add another 500,000 b/d, bringing taking capacity to more than 1.4 million b/d. Hammerhead would lift that to more than 1.55 million b/d, with further optimization possible.
Exxon’s eighth project, Longtail, is targeted for a 2030 start-up.
