Exxon Bets Big on Natural Gas in Its Eighth Guyana Oil Project
ExxonMobil’s eighth oil project offshore Guyana will also be the biggest natural gas development of the Exxon-led consortium in the prolific Stabroek Block.
Exxon and its partners in Guyana’s oil projects, U.S. Hess Corp and CNOOC of China, expect to produce up to 1.5 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) of natural gas and 290,000 barrels per day of condensate at the Longtail project, per the request for environmental authorization from Guyana seen by Reuters.
Longtail, which will include the Longtail, Tripletail, and Turbot discoveries, will be the consortium’s eighth project offshore the South American country.
Exxon announced the first Longtail discovery in June 2018.
The supermajor and its partners have several oil projects on stream, collectively producing more than 650,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil.
The huge resources discovered offshore Guyana since 2015 have made the country one of the newest crude oil exporters. Since Exxon struck oil in the Stabroek Block, the consortium has discovered total reserves estimated at more than 11 billion barrels of oil equivalent.
So far, the consortium has put online six production projects in the country.
Some of the more than a dozen discoveries in the Stabroek Block have good natural gas resources, and Exxon has decided it would develop these for gas-to-power onshore and potentially for LNG exports in the future.
Last month, Alistair Routledge, president and general manager at ExxonMobil Guyana, said that the supermajor plans to boost gas production in Guyana and could consider exports at a later stage.
The Longtail development would send gas to the shore for feedstock in the fertilizer and aluminum production, Routledge said at the Guyana Energy Conference, as carried by Bloomberg. The gas could also be used for power to support data centers.
Exxon plans a final investment decision for Longtail in 2026 and could start up the project by 2029.
By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com
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