Exxon’s 8th oil project to produce 1.8M tonnes of greenhouse gases annually, EIA finds

Mar 23, 2026 News

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(Kaieteur News) – Greenhouse gases trap heat in the atmosphere contributing to global warming and climate change. In a single project, ExxonMobil will add 1.8 million tonnes of greenhouse gases (GHG) into the atmosphere on an annual basis.

This is outlined in the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) submitted for the company’s eight deep-water development, Longtail. Guyanese have long argued that the Stabroek Block deal offers little to Guyanese compared with the extent of damage to the environment; and while financial resources cannot reverse these types of impacts, they can help developing nations like Guyana better prepare for disasters caused by climate change, such as flooding.

According to the study done by Exxon’s consultant, Acorn International, “Project operations will generate approximately 1,790 kilotonnes per year (or about 1.8M tonnes) of direct GHG emissions (estimated maximum annual during the production operations stage).”

Comparing this to the country’s total GHG emissions in 2022, it was noted that “Guyana’s estimate of annual GHG emissions in 2022 was approximately 14.96 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent.”

Emissions from Exxon’s Longtail project is expected to increase Guyana’s annual carbon dioxide equivalent emissions by approximately 11 per cent. To this end, Exxon said, “this amount will comprise only about 1.1 per cent of Guyana’s total carbon sink and a fraction of a percent of the regional (Latin America and the Caribbean) GHG emission targets.”

The company added, “Predicting the potential impact of local GHG emissions on global (or local) climate change is not feasible due to the multiple factors—beyond that of a single project—that drive global climate change predictions.

Further, the company noted that there are no applicable regulatory criteria against which these direct GHG emissions can be compared, however, the emissions will be reported in accordance with GIIP to aid in managing GHG emissions at a national and international level.

Direct GHG emissions from the project were estimated based on several factors, including activity levels, fuel types, equipment capacities, vendor-provided data, emission factors published by the American Petroleum Institute, and standard emission factors published by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

During the drilling and installation stage of the operations, total estimated annual direct GHG emissions are expected to grow from 235 kilotonnes per year in 2027 through 2029 to 2,530 kilotonnes per year in 2030 through 2031.

The company has committed to implement several measures to reduce GHG and other air emissions during project activities especially where flaring is concerned. It said a backup generator will be incorporated into the design of the Floating Production Storage and Offloading vessel (FPSO) to reduce upset time as part of its flare management plan; installing waste heat recovery units on turbine generators to reduce the demand of more power generation or fired heaters, thus decreasing fuel gas consumption and using a closed flare design that allows for certain levels of low-rate gas releases to be collected and contained within the flare piping system and recycled back to the process gas handling system instead of going to flare.

ExxonMobil is now mandated to report on carbon dioxide pollution or scope 3 emissions, following a court ruling in March 2025. Two citizens, Wintress Morris and Joy Marcus, had filed a legal action against the EPA for failing to ensure the impacts of ExxonMobil’s seventh oil project- Hammerhead- is properly assessed.

Longtail plans

The EIA explained that Exxon plans to drill approximately 24 to 60 development wells, with development well drilling scheduled to begin in 2027 and possibly extending as late as 2031 and beyond. It said installation of subsea components is slated to commence in 2028 with installation of the Floating Production Storage and Offloading vessel (FPSO), commissioning and startup planned to occur from 2028 to 2031.

Longtail is expected to continue for at least 30 years according to the project schedule. Unlike previous developments focused primarily on oil, Longtail will focus on gas production. It will produce hydrocarbons from the non-associated gas fields and potential proximal resources according to the EIA.

The FPSO is being designed to produce 250,000 barrels of condensate per day (bpd) with a gas production capacity of 1,200 million standard cubic feet per day (MMscf/day). BlackRock Midstream describes condensate as extremely light oil.

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• ‘greenhouse gases’, EIA, Exxon, Longtail, oil project

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