Ranger-3 drilling underway as ExxonMobil prepares for Barreleye-3 spud

– company provides updates on Guyana oil industry, says on the path towards 900,000 bpd

US supermajor ExxonMobil has begun drilling a new appraisal well at the Ranger discovery in the Stabroek Block offshore Guyana, aiming to assess additional volumes in an area known for its high-potential carbonate reservoirs. Simultaneously, the company is preparing to spud another appraisal well at the Barreleye discovery, aiming to further evaluate its commercial potential as part of its broader development strategy in the Stabroek Block. This update was provided on Monday by President of ExxonMobil Guyana Alistair Routledge during a press conference on Monday.
“We’ve recently completed the Barreleye-2 well which enabled us to go in and we ran a drill stem test…that’s given us data that we are now working our way through. We anticipate actually coming back to the Barreleye reservoirs and doing further tests – Barreleye 3 – either later this year or going into early next year,” Routledge said.
Following the initial Barreleye-1 discovery in 2022, ExxonMobil has conducted further drilling and appraisal activities, including a recent appraisal at Barreleye-2, to evaluate the full resource potential. The Barreleye-1 well had encountered approximately 230 feet (70 metres) of hydrocarbon-bearing sandstone and was drilled in 3,840 feet (1,170 metres) of water. Meanwhile, with regards to the Ranger discovery, Routledge said the Stena Carron drill ship is currently on that reservoir.
“We’re drilling the Ranger-3 well and then we’re going to run a drill stem test and also stimulate the reservoir to see whether we can economically produce it,” he noted.
Reports indicate that the activity began on September 8, and is scheduled to conclude on December 31, 2025. The Ranger discovery was made in 2018; the discovery is unique because it is located in a carbonate reservoir, a different type of rock formation compared to previous sandstone discoveries. The Ranger- 1 well was drilled in a new reservoir, encountering approximately 230 feet (70 metres) of high-quality, oil-bearing carbonate reservoir.

900,000 bpd production capacity
The ExxonMobil Guyana President also provided updates on the company’s other activities such as the Yellowtail project, which has given Guyana an installed production capacity of 900,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd). Currently, Guyana is producing around 740,000 bpd and is on track to reach full capacity by year-end. “Now what we’re focused on is the final preparations in order to be able to increase the production to the full plateau rate…So well on the path towards the 900,000 barrels a day that we anticipated we’d be producing by the end of this year,” Routledge noted. On 8 August 2025, ExxonMobil began production at the Yellowtail field, the fourth oil development within Guyana’s offshore Stabroek block, utilising the One Guyana Floating Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel. The One Guyana is the largest FPSO on the Stabroek block to date with an initial annual average production of 250,000 bpd and a storage capacity of two million barrels. Oil produced from the FPSO will be marketed as Golden Arrowhead crude.

Uaru and Whiptail
During the press conference, Routledge also provided an update on the fifth and sixth approved projects, Uaru and Whiptail, with Uaru anticipated to start production in 2026, and Whiptail is anticipated for startup in 2027. “Both of those are on or close to their target schedules,” he divulged, noting that there are three main elements in these types of projects. “We have to drill the wells, we have to install the subsea infrastructure…and we have to construct the floating production storage offloading facilities. So all three elements of both of those projects are on the target schedule,” he added.

Longtail
Routledge further noted that ExxonMobil is looking forward to the progress of Longtail next year. “That project, we’re in the environmental permitting process. The environmental impact assessment (EIA) is underway, having earlier this year concluded the consultation, the early consultation process on what should be covered by the EIA. And so as we go into 2026, we will be bringing that study to a conclusion, beginning to share the results in consultation with the communities around the country, and also bringing forward the field development plan to the Government. So, looking forward to 2026 being the year of the Longtail project reviews, and our target is that by the end of 2026, we’ll secure all the approvals necessary for the first non-associated gas development in the country,” he noted. “And so a lot of gas resource, also though comes with condensate, very, very light oil,” he added.
Longtail is ExxonMobil’s eight planned development in the Stabroek Block, 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.

Hammerhead
The Guyana Government only recently approved ExxonMobil’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 (GtE) 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.
At Monday’s press conference, Routledge revealed that there will be a public competition to name the FPSO that will operate in this project, which is expected to come online in 2029, and bring the country’s total installed capacity to 1.5 million barrels of oil per day. The US$6.8 billion project will be produced through a Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC) conversion-type FPSO, which will be built by MODEC, a Japanese company. Presently, the FPSOs operating in the Stabroek Block are named ‘Liza Destiny’, ‘Liza Unity’, ‘Prosperity’, and ‘One Guyana’. FPSO ‘Errea Wittu’, for the Uaru project, and FPSO ‘Jaguar’, for the Whiptail project, are under construction.