Guyana expects to receive the development plan for Exxon's seventh oil project offshore the South American country early next year, Natural Rsources Minister Vickram Bharrat has said.
"We have not received the field development plan as yet," Bharrat said, as carried by Reuters.
"That will probably be in the first quarter of 2025, and then we will conduct the necessary due diligence with the view of issuing the license once everything is okay," the minister added.
Earlier this year, U.S. supermajor ExxonMobil - which currently pumps in a consortium with U.S. Hess Corporation and CNOOC of China all the crude oil that Guyana produces - announced that it plans to develop a seventh offshore oil project on the prolific Stabroek block.
The new project, Hammerhead, is set for start-up in 2029 and expected to boost Guyana's oil production capacity to more than 1.4 million barrels per day (bpd).
Currently, Exxon's consortium in Guyana produces about 650,000 bpd.
The Hammerhead discovery, announced in August 2018, was ExxonMobil's ninth oil discovery in the Stabroek Block.
Hammerhead is now planned to be ExxonMobil's seventh oil project.
Hammerhead is set to undergo environmental reviews and needs a final approval from the Guyanese government.
Guyana's Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) last month 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.
Plans for the seventh project on Stabroek are being drafted a few 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.
By Michael Kern for Oilprice.com
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Michael Kern is a newswriter and editor at Safehaven.com and Oilprice.com, More