In announcing its 19th oil discovery at the Stabroek Block offshore Guyana on Tuesday, ExxonMobil also confirmed that it will be pursuing its fourth development in the Yellowtail area located 19 miles (30 kilometers) southeast of the Liza developments. This project will follow the Liza Phase 1 and 2 developments, and Payara, which was sanctioned last year.
“A fourth project, Yellowtail, has been identified within the block with anticipated start up in late 2025 pending government approvals and project sanctioning,” the company said, pointing out that this project will develop the Yellowtail and Redtail fields.
Hammerhead was initially being targeted for the 4th development on the block but the identification of two additional high-quality reservoirs at the Yellowtail-2 well offshore Guyana last year saw this area being moved up in the queue for development. In July it was announced that appraisal drilling at Yellowtail-2 identified two additional high-quality hydrocarbon-bearing reservoirs, one adjacent to, and the other below the Yellowtail field.
“What I’d like to say is that this greater Yellowtail area is showing that it’s a very significant oil accumulation of high-quality oil like Liza, and you know with this appraisal work that we’re doing and the drill stem test, that’s going to give us very valuable information to basically assess moving the greater Yellowtail area up in queue to potentially be the fourth FPSO,” John Hess, CEO of Hess Corporation had said at the Barclays CEO Energy-Power Conference in September 2020. Hess is a 30% stakeholder in the Stabroek Block.
Due to the significant recoverable resources discovered in the Yellowtail area, IHS Markit has estimated that total cash flow from the development will amount to almost US$10 billion.
ExxonMobil has said it will be submitting a development plan to the Government of Guyana before the end of this year.
The company anticipates at least six projects online by 2027 and sees potential for up to 10 FPSOs to develop its current recoverable resource balance.
