Shearwater has secured a two-month seismic survey contract from ExxonMobil Guyana Limited for work over the Yellowtail development area in the Stabroek Block offshore Guyana.
The Norway-based marine geoscience company said on June 11 that the scope covers a distributed acoustic sensing seismic program. The work will involve source-only seismic acquisition to support a baseline reservoir surveillance survey at Yellowtail.
Shearwater said it has deployed the SW Empress in a triple source configuration for the assignment. The vessel is moving directly into the Guyana program after operating on a multi-client project in South America since November 2025.
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“DAS programs may provide clients with specific insights into reservoir surveillance throughout a field’s life. Shearwater’s source technology, offshore execution experience, and flexible capacity enable vessels to switch between different modes to maximize vessel utilization,” said Irene Waage Basili, Chief Executive Officer of Shearwater.
The survey is intended to help ExxonMobil monitor the Yellowtail reservoir as production continues from Guyana’s fourth offshore oil development. Yellowtail came online in August 2025 from the ONE GUYANA floating production, storage and offloading vessel.
Yellowtail was designed to produce 250,000 barrels per day (b/d). The company said the project lifted Guyana’s installed offshore production capacity to more than 900,000 b/d. Yellowtail over time safely exceeded its initial production target.
Yellowtail followed Liza 1 and 2, and Payara in the ExxonMobil-operated Stabroek Block. ExxonMobil Guyana holds a 45% stake in the block. Chevron holds 30%, following its acquisition of Hess, while CNOOC holds 25%.
The Stabroek Block has delivered more than 11 billion barrels of oil equivalent since 2015.
