Page 4 - LatAmOil Week 02 2023

LatAmOil COMMENTARY LatAmOil

Expansion on the agenda

at Stabroek block in 2023

ExxonMobil will move closer to making an FID on Uaru this year and

could make headway on its sixth and seventh development projects

EXXONMOBIL (US) and its partners in the (boe), at around $12.683bn.
Stabroek block offshore Guyana have already The US giant has yet to take an FID on the
WHAT: begun production at two oilfields, bringing Uaru project. It has indicated that it hopes to
ExxonMobil is gearing up Liza-1 on stream in December 2019 and fol- do so by the end of 2023, but it cannot take this
for a closer look at its lowing up with Liza-2 in February 2022. They step until it receives a green light from George-
fifth, sixth and seventh are now gearing up to do the same with Payara town. That is, its EIA must secure a positive
development projects at before the end of 2023 and have already begun review from Guyana’s Environmental Protec-
the Stabroek block. work on the fourth development project – Yel- tion Agency (EPA), and the Ministry of Natu-
WHY: lowtail, which is due to reach first oil in 2025 – ral Resources must evaluate its proposed field
development plan (FDP) after choosing an
after making a final investment decision (FID)
Even though the US on that field in April of last year. expert consultant for assistance with the process.
super-major is preparing
to launch its third project Despite all this activity, ExxonMobil’s work- If these steps are completed in a timely man-
at the block and starting load will only get heavier in the near future. The ner, ExxonMobil and its fellow investors may be
work on its fourth, it is US super-major is taking steps to extend the list able to bring Uaru on stream as Stabroek’s fifth
looking ahead. of its development targets, and the fruits of its development project in late 2026 or early 2027.
efforts are likely to be visible by the end of the This could bring the block’s output up to more
WHAT NEXT: year. than 1mn bpd.
The company will be This essay will provide a brief overview of In the meantime, the company has made
much closer to a decision the next several projects under consideration by arrangements with Japan’s MODEC to secure
by year-end. ExxonMobil at Stabroek. its fifth FPSO for Stabroek. The parties signed a
contract last autumn for a 250,000 bpd unit that
Uaru-Mako-Snoek will be the first vessel not prepared for the pro-
The US company’s local subsidiary, known vari- ject by SBM Offshore of the Netherlands.
ously as ExxonMobil Guyana and Esso Explora- ExxonMobil can thus be expected to spend
tion and Production Guyana Ltd (EEPGL), has a significant amount of time this year working
said that Stabroek may yield as much as 1.2mn with MODEC on the early stages of the FPSO
barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil by 2027. It has contract and working with Guyanese authori-
also said that it may deploy as many as 10 float- ties in the hope of pushing through the approval
ing production, storage and off-loading (FPSO) process for Uaru. By the end of the year, then, the
units – that is, vessels of the type already installed US firm and its partners should be closer to an
at Liza-1 and Liza-2 and slated for installation at FID on the project, if not there already.
Payara and Yellowtail – at the block by the end
of the decade. Pinktail-Whiptail
Thus far, though, it has only made FIDs on Beyond Uaru, ExxonMobil’s plans are less
four development projects – the aforemen- well-defined. Representatives of the block’s
tioned Liza-1, Liza-2, Payara (which will also tap operator have not had much to say in public
the nearby Pacora field vie tie-ins) and Yellowtail about which field or fields might be the objective
(which will also tap Redtail). Beyond this, it has of the sixth development project.
only identified one more target: Uaru. However, one of the super-major’s non-op-
ExxonMobil has stated definitively that the erating partners, the US independent Hess, has
Uaru oilfield will be the primary objective of its been less tight-lipped. John Hess, the CEO of
fifth development project. It has also formalised the latter company, began saying in September
its plans, informing Guyana of its intention to 2021 that the then-recently discovered Pinktail
use tie-ins to link the Mako and Snoek fields to site might be the partners’ sixth target. Pinktail
its fifth FPSO. Its contractor, US-based Acorn “has the potential to be coupled with Whiptail, a
International, has submitted an environmental discovery announced earlier this year ... to be the
impact assessment (EIA) that puts the cost of the sixth development,” Hess said in remarks broad-
project, which will target combined recoverable cast online at the Barclays CEO Energy-Power
reserves of 1.319bn barrels of oil equivalent Conference in New York.

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