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Exxon to develop approx. 5 billion barrels of oil from six approved projects – Routledge
Kaieteur News- ExxonMobil Guyana Limited (EMGL) president, Alistair Routledge, has disclosed that nearly 5 billion barrels of oil will be produced from the six approved developments in the Stabroek Block.
ExxonMobil Guyana Limited (EMGL) President Alistair Routledge (Exxon to develop approx. 5 billion barrels of oil )
During a recent interview with OilNow, Routledge was asked to comment on the discourse of the Stabroek Block’s resource potential. Hess Corporation’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), John Hess, has disclosed that his company’s estimate of discovered resources in Guyana’s Stabroek Block exceeds the less-than-11-billion-barrels-of-oil-equivalent figure shared by the operator of the block, ExxonMobil.
Exxon holds 45% shares in the Stabroek Block, while Hess and CNOOC hold 30% and 25% interest respectively.
The Stabroek Block, renowned for its vast oil potential, has been the subject of global attention since oil production commenced five years ago. ExxonMobil’s president had previously stated that the company’s estimate remains below 11 billion barrels of oil equivalent, despite several new discoveries in the block since the previous update in 2022. However, the government disclosed that their figure stands at 11.6 billion barrels.
During the OilNow interview Routledge outlined Exxon’s approach to resource development. He explained that the company’s focus remains on transitioning resources from estimates to fully developed reserves.
“Now the number that’s most important is, how do we move estimated ultimate recover resource, to developed resource, to prove and developed resource, which is much more meaningful, there’s always a degree of a set of key assumptions about what the future may hold, what sort of developments. But moving those forward and materializing the development, getting to the final investment decision, is what moves that resource into development,” Routledge explained.
FPSO Prosperity operating offshore Guyana
He added, “And we’ve now got to the point where, with the projects that have been sanctioned, we’re approaching 5 billion barrels of developed resource, which is a significant step forward for the country.”
Since making its first discovery in 2015, Exxon has transitioned from exploration to production in record time. Guyana’s Stabroek Block holds an estimated 11.6 billion barrels of oil, meaning almost half will be produced from the six sanctioned projects.
Exxon is currently producing over 650,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd) from Liza 1, Liza 2, and Payara developments, supported by three floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessels—Destiny, Unity, and Prosperity. Last year, Exxon announced that since production began in December 2019, it has surpassed 500 million barrels of oil.
Regarding future exploration efforts, Routledge acknowledged the success of existing discoveries but noted that the company continues to search for additional reserves across the Stabroek Block and beyond.
“We certainly hope so. I mean, that’s what we’re working towards, is, can we find additional plays? I mean, what we’ve established is a very good understanding of certain plays, and particularly a central southeast portion of the block. As you’re aware, we have drilled some other exploration wells…trying to test different plays in other parts of the Stabroek block,” he noted.
To this end, he stated that this is still the early days in a new frontier basin. “And so even though we’ve had an immense amount of success, there’s still a lot of unknowns across the basin that we have to work through,” he said.
Additionally, Exxon is also refining its approach based on data gathered from past exploration wells, leveraging seismic reprocessing to improve efficiency in identifying new potential reserves.
“But from the wells that we’ve drilled, we’ve gathered a lot of information. We return to the seismic, we reprocess, we relook at that seismic, and with what that gives us we can be more selective as we go forward. What are the best opportunities where we still think there’s potential?” Routledge explained.
Exxon’s fourth development, Yellowtail, is expected to come onstream later this year, with the fifth and sixth projects, Uaru and Whiptail, scheduled for startup in 2026 and 2027, respectively.
(Exxon to develop approx. 5 billion barrels of oil from six approved projects – Routledge)
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