ExxonMobil said 2025 is shaping up to be "very pivotal" for the company's operations at the giant Stabroek offshore block in Guyana as the pace of projects speeds up.
The US oil and gas producer has just submitted the draft environmental impact assessment for the Hammerhead project to Guyana's Environmental Protection Agency, ExxonMobil's Guyana president Alistair Routledge said today at the Guyana Energy Conference and Supply Chain Expo in Georgetown.
"We target reaching final investment decision for that project in the middle of the year, subject, of course, to us completing the full environmental permitting process and the production license process," he said.
Hammerhead is forecast to deliver up to 190,000 b/d when it is brought up to full capacity by the end of 2029.
Next year, ExxonMobil plans to reach a final investment decision on Longtail, which will be the first to target non-associated gas in the southeast area of Stabroek. "We'll develop a significant resource base of gas, but also condensates, liquids," Routledge said. Gas output is pegged at up to 1.2 bcf/d when it starts at the end of the decade.
Routledge acknowledged the government's impatience to move faster on gas development plans.
"We want to move quickly," he told the conference. "But for those in the industry, you will understand the additional complexity and challenges that gas brings." This includes higher transport and storage costs than oil and lower energy density.
That means it takes more effort to advance gas projects, especially in a country like Guyana that does not have an existing market.
A $1bn pipeline that will ship gas from Stabroek to a planned power plant and natural gas liquids complex — the centerpiece of Guyana's promised gas-to-energy project — is already complete.
"We're ready to deliver gas onshore to that very first domestic gas project that will deliver real benefits to Guyana," Routledge said.
The Guyanase government has plans in motion to build a second power plant, and then a fertilizer plant, which will support the country's agricultural sector as part of a diversification drive.
Routledge outlined other possible strategies to further develop the country's gas resources, including data centers like those spreading elsewhere to power artificial intelligence services. "We've had conversations with some potential investors," Routledge said. "That's on our radar."
There is also the option of connecting Guyana's gas resources to world markets.
"While it may be cost prohibitive to lay a pipeline all the way to Trinidad, there is still the possibility of using liquefied natural gas technology to connect us to global markets," Routledge said. "That is a further option that is on the table and being investigated."
