Home Top Stories Massive gas development on horizon as Exxon’s 8th project could produce 1B...
…Exxon applies for environmental approval, FDP to be submitted in 2026
Longtail, ExxonMobil’s eighth proposed project in the Stabroek Block offshore Guyana, could see as much as one billion cubic feet of gas being produced daily. It is a lucrative project for which the oil major is looking to seek approval from Government in 2026.
During his first press conference for 2025, President of ExxonMobil Guyana, Alistair Routledge, updated the media on one of the company’s upcoming developments. Dubbed Longtail after the fish, this development has massive oil and gas potential, and Routledge noted that an application for environmental authorization for the project has already been submitted.
“We’ve just submitted the Environmental Authorization application for the eighth project, the Longtail project, which will start us in developing the non-associated gas resources. Longtail comes with a good amount of liquids, condensates in particular. So, that field development, we’re starting the process with the environmental authorization application and moving that forward, as was announced in ExxonMobil’s Corporate Investor Day back in December in Houston,” he explained.
“For Longtail, the Longtail project is still a little bit early in the process of being finalized, but we anticipate (it) could be as high as 250,000 barrels per day of production capacity for the liquid side. The gas, seeing as this is more of a gas development, we anticipate could be in excess of one billion cubic feet per day of gas-handling capacity,” Routledge explained.
Routledge has said there is potential for Longtail to be developed into a cost competitive project, and a Field Development Plan would be submitted to Government next year. Also noting the work that Exxon has put in over the years in evaluating how the gas reservoirs in the Stabroek Block can be developed, he said all this data is being put into geological and reservoir models to better inform the company on what development to expect beyond Longtail.
He has expressed optimism for Longtail, given that earlier appraisal work done has shown there are sufficient reservoirs.
“Now, what the teams are doing is taking all the data we’ve gathered, the wells and static data. We’ve penetrated different structures; we’ve been able to calibrate the seismic; that’s what it allows us to do: to better interpret the reservoirs distributed. And then, from the drill stamp tests that we perform, these dynamic tests (allow us) to see how productive are the reservoirs,” he explained.
“Which ultimately informs us how many wells may be required to be drilled in those reservoirs…and so we’ll be bringing that forward to the Government — start an environmental authorization process. We anticipate bringing a Field Development Plan forward next year, 2026,” Routledge added.
The Longtail-1 well was ExxonMobil’s eighth successful oil discovery in the Stabroek Block, with 256 feet of oil being found back in 2018. Subsequently, 230 feet of oil were found at Longtail-3 by Exxon in 2021.
In terms of gas, Government has been actively exploring ways in which it could monetize this resource, and has contracted US-based company Fulcrum LNG to develop these monetization options. The company is expected to work in a tripartite arrangement with the Guyana Government and ExxonMobil to develop another potential gas project.
One channel in which the Government is looking to utilize gas is in Phase One and Two of its Gas-to-Energy projects, the first phase of which is currently being built at Wales, West Bank Demerara (WBD).
The Guyana Government already anticipates that the GtE Project would earn the country as much as US$500 million in savings when electricity prices are slashed by half and from the sale of the rich excess gas.
It has also been theorized that the liquids that would come when Guyana cleans the excess gas for products such as cooking gas or Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) can be sold, and that would further bolster the country’s earnings from the GtE Project.
Invitations are currently out for proposals to design, construct, and operate a 250 MW combined-cycle power plant to deliver 2,100 gigawatt/ hours (GWh) of electricity per annum and sell same to the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) Inc.
Those invitations cater for the design, construction and operation of another NGL facility to produce daily approximately 6,000 barrels of NGL products such as propane, butane, and C5+gasolene.
