Guyana Begins Review of Offshore Hammerhead Production Project

Written by Amir Richani for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--The Guyanese government said on Tuesday that its Environmental Protection Agency is reviewing Exxon Mobil Corporation's (NYSE:XOM) (Spring, Texas) application to develop the Hammerhead field in the Stabroek block. Subscribers to Industrial Info's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Oil & Gas Production Project and Plant databases can click here for the project reports and click here for the related plant profile.

This development, which would begin production in 2029, could add between 120,000 barrels per day (BBL/d) and 180,000 BBL/d of new capacity to Guyana. The project contemplates drilling between 14 to 30 production and injection wells and a floating, production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) vessel with a storage capacity between 1.4 million to 2 million barrels.

Hammerhead is Exxon's seventh oil development in the Stabroek block. The Liza Phase 1, Liza Phase 2 and Payara fields are already in production with a capacity of 630,000 BBL/d. The Yellowtail, Uaru, Whiptail and Hammerhead are expected to come online in the next five years, bringing the company's total capacity to as much as 1.56 million BBL/d.

The news about the development emerges months after heightened territorial tensions between Guyana and Venezuela. Caracas has maintained a century-old dispute over two-thirds of the Guyanese territory, encompassing the Essequibo region and including territorial waters that cover the Stabroek block. In recent months, the countries increased military activity in the borders, and Venezuela declared the area as a state.

The presidents of both nations met in the Caribbean to reduce tensions, though both countries expect a declaration from the International Court of Justice over their dispute.

Despite the tensions, however, Exxon's success in Guyana has attracted others to explore the country's waters in the hopes of finding similar resources, not only offshore Georgetown but also in neighboring countries such as Suriname.

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