ExxonMobil’s Longtail Project can power Berbice’s gas-fuelled industrial boom – Production Manager

Following the approval of the Hammerhead Project, ExxonMobil Guyana is already working to bring online its eighth development – the Longtail Project, which has significant natural gas deposits that could be tapped into for major initiatives like fertiliser plants, data centres and the alumina plant that the Guyana Government has touted for Berbice.

Updating industry stakeholders at an energy-themed event hosted by the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) on Thursday morning, Production Manager of ExxonMobil Guyana, Huzefa Ali, indicated that the Longtail development is currently under review and consideration. This project, which is located in the south-east of the Stabroek Block offshore Guyana, could potentially supply hydrocarbons for several gas-powered initiatives.
“The southern part of the Stabroek Block is… rich in gas resources. We are well on our way to appraising those resources and then also taking that to the next step, which is considering what is the most valuable development concept that brings the highest value for the people of Guyana, for the Government of Guyana and for the other stakeholders.”
“[The] potential vision of what that gas could potentially be used for, it includes things like a pipeline coming onshore into the Berbice area and then being used for various different outputs, whether that be data centres, alumina and/or fertiliser development,” the Exxon official stated.
President Dr Irfaan Ali has been touting the establishment of a world-class data centre and alumina plants, among other initiatives, as Guyana moves to monetise its gas resources, which will be an independent project from the model Gas-to-Energy (GtE) initiative that is currently under construction at Wales, West Bank Demerara. The GtE project comprises a Natural Gas Liquids (NGL) facility and a 300-megawatt power plant utilising the rich natural gas from the Liza Fields in the Stabroek Block, offshore Guyana.
United States (US) energy firm Fulcrum LNG Inc has been selected to work in a tripartite arrangement with the Guyana Government and ExxonMobil to develop a potential gas project likely to be located in the Berbice region.
Currently, a pipeline has already been put in place by Exxon to bring the rich natural gas from the Liza Destiny and Unit Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSOs) vessels offshore to the GtE Project site at Wales.
Plans are also underway for a second power plant and NGL facility at Wales, which Exxon says it could also supply the gas for.
“Potentially, a second power plant could supply additional power to the country of Guyana. It could also supply other manufacturing and/or industrial uses, whether that be data centres and/or fertiliser plants and other investments in the Wales area. We continue to work with the Government on those opportunities and look forward to progressing those into the future,” the Exxon official noted.
Only last week, the Guyana Government approved Exxon’s seventh development project offshore Guyana, Hammerhead, which also has large gas deposits.
Natural Resources Minister Vickram Bharrat recently disclosed plans to utilise that gas from the Hammerhead Project to power the second phase of the Gas to Energy Project at Wales. The Hammerhead development can produce as much as 95 million cubic feet per day of gas, but only about 10 million of these will be needed to fuel the FPSO.
According to Bharrat, the remaining gas will be piped onshore for the GtE project.
“Hammerhead field actually has a lot more gas than the other fields. And we have been told by Exxon, confirmed by our technical teams, that unlike the other developments, they will not use the gas to reinject in order to optimise production like they do in the other fields.
“The Liza 1 and Liza 2 [offshore projects] will not be able to fill that pipeline, and that is why Hammerhead is so critical and important because rather than re-injecting the gas to optimise production, that gas now would go to the Unity and Destiny FPSOs, and then through that pipeline [from] offshore to the Wales Development Area,” Bharrat explained during an appearance on the Starting Point podcast, which aired on Sunday.
As part of the GtE project, ExxonMobil – the operator of the oil-rich Stabroek Block – has already laid the 250 kilometres of 12-inch pipelines that will bring the gas onshore. However, only 40 per cent of the pipeline’s capacity will be used to gas up the current power plant and NGL facility at Wales, bringing 50 million cubic feet per day of dry gas onshore.
But with the pipelines having the capacity to push as much as 130 thousand cubic feet per day (mcf/d) of gas, the Government is now moving ahead with Phase Two of the GtE project that will utilise the remaining 60 per cent capacity of the pipeline to bring an additional gas onshore for a second power plant and NGL facility at the Wales project site.
“Hammerhead now will help us to fill that Wales pipeline… because that gas is guaranteed right now… 50 million cubic metres per day is already available, which is enough for the first power plant and which will come on stream in a couple months from now. And then with Hammerhead being tied into that, it is guaranteed now that we will fill that pipeline with over 120 million cubic feet per day, which will now accommodate a second power plant, another 300 megawatts of power,” the Natural Resources Minister stated.