ExxonMobil continues to bet big on Guyana, planning a new project set for start-up in 2029 and expected to boost Guyana's oil production capacity to over 1.4 million barrels per day (bpd).
The development plan for the Hammerhead project entails the drilling of up to 30 wells in the Hammerhead discovery from 2018 in the Stabroek Block, according to Exxon's plan which the Guyana government made public on Monday.
Exxon is the operator of the Stabroek Block offshore Guyana, from which the U.S. supermajor and its partners currently pump more than 600,000 bpd.
The project is set to undergo environmental reviews and needs a final approval from the Guyanese government.
Guyana's Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Monday said that Exxon, as the operator of the Stabroek Block, would be required to conduct an Environmental Impact Assessment for Hammerhead, its seventh deepwater project in the block.
According to current plans, oil production at Hammerhead is expected to begin in 2029 via another Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel, at a rate of between 120,000 bpd and 180,000 bpd.
Exxon and its Stabroek partners, U.S. Hess Corporation and CNOOC of China, currently produce all the oil in the South American country, which became the newest oil-exporting nation at the end of 2019.
Plans for the seventh project on Stabroek are being drafted three months after Exxon made a final investment decision for its sixth project, the $12.7-billion Whiptail development offshore Guyana, after receiving the required government and regulatory approvals.
Exxon targets the Whiptail project to start oil production in 2027, adding 250,000 bpd to Guyana's oil output capacity.
"Our sixth multi-billion-dollar project in Guyana will bring the country's production capacity to approximately 1.3 million barrels per day," Liam Mallon, president of ExxonMobil Upstream Company, said in April, commenting on the decision to invest in the Whiptail project.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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