ExxonMobil’s US$10B 4th oil project set to extract 900M oil barrels

Aug 02, 2023 ExxonMobil, News, Oil & Gas

…already 60% complete

Kaieteur News – ExxonMobil’s fourth development, the Yellowtail project, is approximately 60% complete and is on track for first oil in 2025, according to Greg Hill, Hess Corporation’s President and Chief Operating Officer. Hess is ExxonMobil’s Stabroek Block partner, alongside CNOOC.

ExxonMobil’s CEO, Darren Woods

The Yellowtail project’s gross production capacity is estimated at around 250,000 barrels of oil per day. Over a 20 year period, approximately 900 million barrels of oil would be produced. The Yellowtail project is a key element in the development of offshore crude production in Guyana, with projections suggesting it will lift the nation’s output above 800,000 barrels per day. This substantial increase would position Guyana as the world’s largest per capita producer of oil.

The Yellowtail development is situated in the eastern portion of the Stabroek Block, approximately 200 kilometres from Georgetown and southeast of other projects. It will produce oil from the Yellowtail and Redtail reservoirs, discovered in April 2019 and August 2020 respectively. ExxonMobil’s local affiliate, Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL) gave the greenlight to the final investment decision (FID) for the Yellowtail project in April 2022. So did its partners. This decision followed the grant of an environmental permit from the Environmental Protection Agency and a Production License from the Ministry of Natural Resources. The project is anticipated to involve a total development cost of around US$10 billion.

Hess Corporation’s COO, Greg Hill.

The Yellowtail project will join Liza Phases One and Two, currently in production, and Payara, expected to commence operations later this year. The Yellowtail development plan consists of six drill centres, drilling up to 67 development wells, including 26 production and 25 injection wells. TechnipFMC is set to install a subsea umbilicals, risers and flowlines (SURF) production system. This system will consist of 51 enhanced vertical deepwater trees (EVDT) with associated tooling, as well as 12 manifolds with related controls and tie-in equipment.

The project will make use of the ‘ONE GUYANA’ floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel, contracted by SBM Offshore for processing. ‘ONE GUYANA’ will be SBM Offshore’s 4th unit for Exxon, featuring a newly-built, multi-purpose floater hull from its Fast4Ward® programme. The vessel will be anchored at a water depth of approximately 1,800 metres by an up to 22-point spread mooring anchor system. ‘ONE GUYANA’ is designed to produce 250,000 barrels per day of oil and will have a storage capacity of two million barrels of crude oil. In addition, it will provide a gas treatment capacity of 450 million ft³ a day, and water injection capacity of 300,000 barrels per day.

The vessel includes features designed to carry out produced water treatment functions as well as oil separation and gas injection. It also comes equipped with a flare tower, safety system, power generation capability, and crude metering system.