ExxonMobil’s newly approved Whiptail project is expected to produce oil from reservoirs shared between the Whiptail license area and those of two other Stabroek Block projects (Yellowtail and Uaru).
According to the Whiptail production license, Exxon notified the government that it had discovered ‘cross license reservoirs’. Minister of Natural Resources, Vickram Bharrat, advised the company to enter into a unitization agreement, which would allow it to coordinate oil recovery operations among the projects.
The license lists 17 cross license reservoirs which lie in part in the Yellowtail license area and one in the Uaru license area. These will be targeted using the Jaguar floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel.
The ExxonMobil-operated Yellowtail, Whiptail and Uaru projects of the Stabroek Block are slated to commence oil production in 2025, 2026, and 2027 respectively. They will each target production of 250,000 barrels per day (b/d).
The government had included a unitization provision to its newly legislated Petroleum Activities Act 2023, allowing for the development of reservoirs that span multiple license areas. Mr. Bharrat said last year that the government saw the need, after being approached by Exxon for consent to produce oil from the Liza field with the Prosperity FPSO which operates the Payara field.
The unitization provision in the law can also allow for the development of reservoirs across multiple licensed blocks operated by different companies. The government has even said there is potential for joint natural gas development between Guyana and Suriname, given the volumes discovered in the southeastern section of the Stabroek Block and the TotalEnergies-operated Block 58 on the Suriname side.
Read more about the Whiptail project: Exxon greenlights US$12.7 billion Whiptail project in Guyana | OilNOW
