Head of ExxonMobil Guyana Limited, Alistair Routledge has confirmed that 30 development wells will be drilled this year to support Yellowtail, Uaru and Whiptail, three massive oil projects offshore Guyana.
During his interview on the Energy Perspectives Podcast on Sunday, January 5, Routledge reminded that the Yellowtail Project is Guyana’s fourth oil project and is set for start up this year. Following it will be Uaru which will come on stream in 2026 while Whiptail will commence in 2027. Together, these projects will take Guyana’s national output beyond 1.3 million barrels of oil.
Noting that 2025 is an important year for his company, Routledge said two exploration wells are also on the cards, along with some important appraisal wells. He revealed that this appraisal work will include the southeast portion of the Stabroek Block where gas is said to be concentrated, as well as the Ranger-1 well, which unlocked the company’s sixth discovery back in January 2018.
On the Ranger-1 discovery he said, “It’s a central part of the Stabroek block. It’s actually a carbonate rock discovery, and so it’s more challenging to develop a carbonate discovery than it is a sandstone… in fact, all of our developments to date have been in the sandstone.”
He added, “It takes a lot more effort to go through the geoscience data that we’ve gathered from the wells that we’ve already drilled. We gather other data from neighboring exploratory wells that we’ve been drilling to see what we could combine in that part of the block as a potential development.”
As an example, Routledge noted that the Hammerhead project, now pegged to be seventh in its queue of massive projects, was similarly, and in many ways, considered to be one of the more challenging resources in the block until last year.
The Exxon official said his team was able to conclude a number of key studies, hence the environmental permitting process was commenced in 2025. “We anticipate in 2025, that we’ll submit a field development plan, (and) work closely with the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) and the government on the approval process,” said Routledge.
Routledge was keen to note that the Hammerhead project is considered to have a slightly heavier crude but its reservoirs are as good, if not actually better quality than the Liza development.
He said, “We’ve taken more time to appraise and understand the mobility of the resource and the reservoir, and then also going out and looking at the crude assay, as we call it. How does the crude break down when you look at running it through refineries? What sort of products do you yield out of the crude? And through the combination of the subsurface work, the concept work of what facilities might we need, and then also the marketing piece.”
Overall, Routledge said Exxon has concluded that Hammerhead is a strongly viable project hence it is being advanced.
