ExxonMobil Guyana is seeking Environmental Authorisation for a proposed fifth deep water petroleum development project in the eastern portion of the Stabroek Block offshore the South American country, in the Uaru, Mako and Snoek Fields.
The project, which will consist of drilling approximately 40 to 76 development wells, will utilize a floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel with a gross capacity of approximately 275,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd). First oil is targeted for the end of 2026.
Uaru project likely to exceed US$10 billion
This will add to Liza Phase 1 and 2, Payara and Yellowtail. The two Liza projects, which are now producing at the Stabroek Block, have a combined output of over 380,000 barrels per day. Payara is targeting 220,000 bpd and Yellowtail is expected to produce around 250,000 bpd. Payara will come on stream in 2024 and Yellowtail will start producing in 2025.
Early delivery of Payara pushing Exxon 2023 CAPEX budget
The combined output from these projects will see Guyana producing over 1.1 million bpd by 2026/2027.
And with 10 FPSOs expected to be operating at the Stabroek Block by the end of the decade, Guyana’s production is set to exceed 2 million bpd. This will place it at number two for Latin America and the Caribbean, just behind Brazil, and ahead of Mexico. Current output places Guyana at number 7.
‘Highly prolific quality reservoir’ targeted for Exxon’s 5th development in Guyana
“Well, it’s unbelievable in terms of the timing. You’ve almost never seen from discovery to first oil to production ramp up occur at this pace in any other offshore province, maybe except Brazil which deals more with the nature of the wells and the presalt than it does with the development plans that Exxon has put together,” Schreiner Parker, Rystad Energy’s Vice President for Latin America and the Caribbean, told OilNOW in a previous interview.
Dutch floater specialist SBM Offshore has so far delivered FPSOs – Liza Destiny and Liza Unity – for the Liza Phase 1 and 2 projects. The company is also set to deliver the vessels for the 3rd and 4th projects at Payara and Yellowtail.
It was announced last month that Mitsui Ocean Development & Engineering Company Inc. (MODEC) has signed a contract to perform Front End Engineering and Design (FEED) for the 5th FPSO at Uaru.
SBM Offshore has since signed an MoU with Exxon for construction of a multi-purpose floater hull for use on a future FPSO project in Guyana, which is likely to be FPSO number six.
