Longtail development to produce Guyana’s most premium oil to date – Routledge

President of ExxonMobil Guyana, Alistair Routledge, says the United States oil major’s eight development project in the Stabroek Block offshore – Longtail, will produce Guyana’s most premium oil to date.
Currently, ExxonMobil is operating four developments offshore Guyana – Liza Phase 1, Liza Phase 2, Payara and Yellowtail with approval already obtained for its fifth project – Uaru to come onstream in 2026, sixth – Whiptail in 2027, and seventh project – Hammerhead in 2029. All of these projects produce, what has been described as “black crude.”
However, the eight development – the proposed Longtail Project, which is presently under consideration and is targeting a 2030 startup, is expected to produce condensate – a lighter grade of petroleum oil that is higher in value.
During the latest episode of the Starting Point podcast, which was streamed on Sunday, it was noted that once approved and operations begin, Longtail will produce the country’s most premium oil to date.
“Longtail will be a premium,” Routledge declared on the podcast.
Based on reports, the Longtail Project, which has significant natural gas deposits, will produce over one billion cubic feet of natural gas per day and around 250,000 barrels of condensate daily.
The ExxonMobil Guyana head explained that since this is the lighter end of what exists in the line of petroleum crude oils, it should attract a premium value.
“That is part of the work that we’re doing today as we look forward to a full-funding decision on the project…understanding how the condensates from the Longtail area fields will compete in the market. But we do anticipate that they’ll attract a premium. Because at the end of the day, when you think of…that black crude, and when you push crude through a refinery, then at the very heavier ends, you get bitumen [which is] what we lay on the road in order to finish roads.”
“That comes from the very bottom cut of oil. It’s the heavier, darker part. And then you come up and you have fuel oils – diesel, gasoline, and then you get up into jet fuels and the like… When you take a condensate and you put it through the refinery, you really take more of the premium products out of that petroleum cut. So, it’ll be very similar… It’ll be refined, but it will generate more of the higher-end fuels and products from the condensate,” he noted.
With the development cost of the Longtail Project pegged at around US$12.5 billion, this development has a lifespan of 30 years – 10 years more than the other black crude-producing projects.
Routledge pointed out that this is as a result of the length of time it takes to fully develop gas fields.
“It’s a non-associated gas field. Gas fields typically take longer to produce the resource, particularly when they have these level of liquids, because you really want to recycle the gas as much as possible in order to lift out that condensate. You essentially dissolve the condensate into the drier gas as you cycle it back through.
And as we all know, liquids are very valuable. We’ve just been talking about the premium of the condensate from Longtail versus the black oil fields. And so, we want to extract as much as possible to maximise the value of the resource that comes out of the Longtail Reservoirs for the country. So, it will likely be around 15 years. We’re taking around about 1.2 billion cubic feet a day of gas,” the ExxonMobil Guyana President stated.
Meanwhile, the US-oil major is anticipating connecting the Longtail field to other assets in the Stabroek Block including the Gas-to-Energy (GtE) pipeline. Only earlier this month, another senior ExxonMobil Guyana official noted that the gas deposits from Longtail could be tapped into for major initiatives like fertiliser plants, data centre and the alumina plant that the Guyana Government has touted for Berbice.
“The southern part of the Stabroek Block is…rich in gas resources. We are well on our way to appraise those resources and then also take that to the next step, which is consider 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,” Production Manager of ExxonMobil Guyana, Huzefa Ali, told stakeholders at a Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) breakfast event on October 2.

LNG development
During his appearance on the Sunday podcast, Routledge reassured that the development of Guyana’s Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) resources is a top priority for his company.
At a press conference on October 13, Routledge had told reporters rather than Guyana’s gas resources being converted into LNG for export, it would be injected into several projects in the country including power generation, data centres and an alumina plant – something which Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo has since rejected.

Speaking at his weekly press conference on Thursday last, Jagdeo made it clear that the Government of Guyana — not ExxonMobil — would determine the country’s gas monetisation strategy.
He underscored that Guyana intended to chart its own course when it came to resource management, ensuring decisions serve national interests rather than corporate convenience.
“Guyana will determine its own destiny regarding gas monetisation,” he said firmly. “We will not allow anyone to take options off the table that can benefit our people.”
The Vice President’s remarks came as the Government continues discussions with Fulcrum LNG, a US-based company selected to collaborate with ExxonMobil to monetise the country’s offshore gas resources, which are estimated at over 16 trillion cubic feet. However, no formal agreement has yet been signed.
But Routledge explained during the podcast that while LNG development is still on table, using the gas to develop local industries in Guyana would bring in the most value for the country.
“Guyana doesn’t really have a gas market. It has a market that uses cooking gas, bottled LPGs – liquid petroleum gas, but it doesn’t have a methane market, a piped market or large industrial uses as we stand today. So, the options that were clearly on the table when you start to look at developing a larger volume of gas offshore in the southeast part of the block are to say, well, we could grow a domestic gas market or we could export the gas… And using the country’s own energy resources, in this case gas, to support development of other industries – whether it’s more power generation, whether it’s taking the nation’s bauxite resources and converting it into alumina or fertiliser for the agriculture sector, we’ve been looking at all these potential uses of the nation’s gas resource.
And when you look at the economic benefit, it’s clear that by using the gas to stimulate domestic industries, it offers the country higher value. So, that is why we’ve prioritised that as our area of focus. It isn’t to say that we’ve taken export of gas, whether pipeline or LNG, off the table. It just means that we’re moving our focus to where we think would deliver the highest value to the country,” the ExxonMobil Guyana President stated.