Whiptail project to cost US$12.9B as EIA completed

– EPA invites public feedback on massive project

The Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for the Whiptail development, which will be ExxonMobil’s sixth development project in the Stabroek Block, has been completed and the project documents indicate that the project will cost US$12.9 billion.
ExxonMobil had approached the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for approval for the Whiptail development. According to the EIA, the project will target between 33 and 72 wells. According to the documents, development drilling is expected to last from late 2024 or early 2025 through mid-2030, with the possibility of extending it as late as 2031.
Installation of subsea components of the project are meanwhile slated to begin in the 2025 second half or early 2026. The installation of the floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel, as well as commissioning and start-up, are expected to occur in 2027. The life of the project is expected to last for at least 20 years.
According to the oil company, the project will employ over 500 persons during drilling and installation. Additionally, between 100 and 180 persons will be employed during production. It was further explained that the Whiptail FPSO vessel will be similar to the one for Yellowtail and will be designed to target 300,000 barrels per day.
When it comes to any potential impacts from the project, the EIA states that the project will not disturb any natural onshore habitats since it is taking place over 195 kilometres off the coast. However, it states that the project may potentially have a meaningful impact on water quality, climate, and certain marine biological and socio-economic resources. However, mitigation measures were included in the assessment for the EPA to peruse.
“The potential impacts of planned Project activities were assessed based on the interactions between these activities and portions of the environmental and socioeconomic receptors affected,” the EIA stated.
“Considering the embedded controls, impacts from planned activities were rated as having Negligible, Minor, Moderate, or Major significance. Based on this assessment, no environmental or socioeconomic impacts from the planned activities were found to have Major significance.”
Meanwhile, the EPA issued a notice inviting citizens to submit any concerns they may have about the project, within 60 days. According to the notice, “The Public is hereby notified that the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Whiptail Development Project, Production facilitates for petroleum production in the Stabroek License Area, offshore Guyana, proposed by the Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL), have been submitted.”
The Stabroek Block is 6.6 million acres (26,800 square kilometres). Exxon, through its local subsidiary Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL), holds 45 per cent interest in the block. Hess Guyana Exploration Ltd holds 30 per cent interest and CNOOC Petroleum Guyana Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of CNOOC Limited, holds the remaining 25 per cent interest.
Since last year, Guyana has been recording weekly lifts in the Stabroek Block with oil production now at 340,000 barrels per day (bpd) from the <<<Liza Destiny>>> and <<<Liza Unity>>> FPSO vessels. With EEPGL making weekly lifts, Guyana’s crude entitlement of one million barrels occurs monthly from the two FPSOs.
ExxonMobil has said it anticipates at least six projects offshore Guyana, including the now Whiptail project, will be online by 2027. Production has already started on the Liza Phase 1 and 2 projects, while the third development, Payara, will start up at the end of this year.
The Payara development will target an estimated resource base of about 600 million oil-equivalent barrels and was at one point considered to be the largest single planned investment in the history of Guyana.
Meanwhile, the Yellowtail development, which will be ExxonMobil’s fourth development in Guyana’s waters, will target a mammoth 250,000 barrels per day (bpd). Both Yellowtail and Uaru, the fifth development, have received approvals.