Guyana ExxonMobil Longtail Project Environmental Assessment Enters Review

en.Wedoany.com Reported - On September 7, Alistair Routledge, President of ExxonMobil Guyana, disclosed that the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and Field Development Plan (FDP) for the Longtail offshore oil and gas development project have been submitted to the competent authorities in Guyana and are currently undergoing separate reviews. The project still aims to obtain government approval and complete the Final Investment Decision (FID) within 2026, with production planned to commence around 2030. After the EIA is approved, it will enter the environmental permitting process, while approval of the FDP corresponds to the approval of the project's production license.

Longtail is located in the Stabroek Block approximately 188 kilometers offshore Guyana, primarily developing non-associated gas and condensate resources. The project plans to develop retrograde condensate gas reservoirs, with a designed natural gas processing capacity of approximately 1.2 billion cubic feet per day and condensate production of approximately 250,000 barrels per day. The production scheme employs natural gas reinjection to maintain reservoir pressure and enhance condensate recovery, with no water injection system; development drilling is planned to commence as early as 2027, and subsea facility installation is expected to begin in 2028.

The project's environmental permitting process was previously initiated. Public documents from the Guyana Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) show that the scope of environmental authorization applied for by ExxonMobil Guyana includes drilling and completion, subsea equipment installation, umbilicals, risers and flowlines, FPSO installation, production operations, and decommissioning, and also involves onshore support facilities. In March 2026, the project's EIA and Environmental Impact Statement entered the regulatory and public review process.

The FPSO engineering for Longtail has simultaneously entered the front-end engineering design stage. On March 24, SBM Offshore was awarded the FPSO Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) contract by ExxonMobil Guyana and allocated a Fast4Ward newbuild multi-purpose floating hull for the project. The FPSO is designed with a natural gas processing capacity of 1.2 billion cubic feet per day, a condensate production capacity of 250,000 barrels per day, and a condensate storage capacity of approximately 2 million barrels, and is planned to be deployed in waters approximately 1,750 meters deep. SBM Offshore's half-year performance document released in August shows that FEED work for the Longtail FPSO is still progressing as planned.

According to the SBM Offshore contract arrangement, subsequent FPSO construction and installation are subject to the preconditions of the Guyana government approving the development plan, ExxonMobil and its partners completing the FID, and the second-phase work being approved for release. After the FPSO construction is completed and before it is put into operation in Guyana, ownership is expected to transfer to ExxonMobil; part of the construction cost is planned to be financed through senior loans and repaid upon transfer of hull ownership.

The Longtail development is operated by ExxonMobil Guyana, which holds a 45% interest in the Stabroek Block, Chevron through Hess holds 30%, and CNOOC Petroleum Guyana, a subsidiary of CNOOC, holds 25%. ExxonMobil has set government approval and FID as preconditions for the FPSO to enter the full construction phase, and Longtail is currently still in the stage of environmental review, development plan approval, and FEED proceeding in parallel.