Contract awarded to British company Bayphase to review US$9B Yellowtail Project

– firm had 2nd lowest bid out of 11 int’l companies
– at least 90 crude lifts expected for 2022

British company Bayphase Limited, one of almost a dozen international companies which had submitted bids to review ExxonMobil’s US$9 billion Yellowtail Project last month, has been awarded the contract.
Last month, 11 international firms had tendered bids for the contract to review Exxon’s Yellowtail Field Development Plan (FDP). Natural Resources Minister Vickram Bharrat confirmed to this publication on Tuesday that the contract has since been awarded to Bayphase Limited.

Bayphase Limited, a British firm, won with a bid of US$423,360… the second lowest bid. Other bidders included Strat Oil Energy Services (US$324,080), Infinity Services and X Well Mexico (US$617,500); Orwell Offshore (US$671,650); Endeavour Management (US$598,934); Future Energy Partners Limited (US$901,482) and MSI International (US$817,761).
IHS Global Incorporated (US$1,493,502); Sun Stone Energy Advisory Service (US$785,040); RPS Energy Consultants Limited (US$494,000) and Sproule (US$661,440), also bid for the contract.

Terms
According to the Request for Proposals (RFP) issued by the Ministry of Natural Resources for the consultant to review and evaluate the Yellowtail FDP, the consultant will have to review not only the FDP, but also all supporting and reference documents, as well as the environmental and social impact assessments (ESIA) submitted by Exxon and its Joint Venture (JV) partners in the block.
The consultant will also be tasked with preparing a report setting out its opinions and assessments formed while evaluating the FDP and ESIA. According to the Ministry, it is expected that the consultant’s assessment will address compliance or lack thereof, with the existing legislations – Petroleum (Exploration and Production) Act 1986 and the Environmental Protection Act 1996, the Petroleum Agreement.
It is also expected that the assessment will evaluate the compliance of Yellowtail to international best practices and industry standards, while pointing out unresolved issues and areas where additional assessments should be done by Exxon before the FDP is approved. And with an existing no flaring policy in place by the Government, the consultant will also evaluate the FDP in that context.
The consultant will also be expected to provide support to the Natural Resources Ministry, specifically when it comes to drafting a Petroleum Production Licence for Yellowtail and supporting the Ministry’s engagements and information exchanges with Exxon and its partners.
The FDP will outline how ExxonMobil plans to develop the oil field while also mitigating against environmental phenomena. Bayphase has history reviewing FDPs in Guyana, having also conducted the review into the FDP for Payara, Exxon’s third development. The Energy Department had contracted Bayphase to conduct a review of the Payara FDP in December of 2019.
The review was completed but in the wake of the controversies that followed the March 2, 2020 elections, the FDP was not approved until September 2020, after their work was reviewed by a team of consultants led by former Alberta Premier Allison Redford.
ExxonMobil has said it anticipates at least six projects offshore Guyana will be online by 2027, with the second one, the Liza Phase 2 project, expected to begin producing next month. The Yellowtail development will be Exxon’s fourth development in Guyana’s waters. In terms of barrels per day (bpd) of oil, it will also be the largest project with 250,000 bpd targeted.

Lifts
Meanwhile, Minister Bharrat announced during the examination of the budget estimates for his Ministry that at least 90 crude lifts are expected for this year. This, the Minister said, is owing to the start-up of the Liza Unity FPSO.
“In 2021 allocations (were) made to cover demurrage cost, which we significantly managed to reduce due to prudent management of the sector. And this year, we’re asking only for $53 million of the $127 million to cover demurrage costs for 2022. And we’re estimated to have at least 90 lifts in 2022, due to the start-up of Liza Unity,” Bharrat said.
Guyana, with US oil giant ExxonMobil as the operator, began producing oil on December 20, 2019, in the Stabroek Block. Guyana received its first payment of US$54.9 million for an oil lift dated February 19, 2020.
Guyana officially completed its final oil lift for 2021 in November, with a little over one million barrels of oil being lifted from the Liza Destiny Floating Production and Storage Offloading (FPSO) vessel and sold by Saudi Aramco.