HOUSTON, TEXAS – MARCH 12: Daniel Yergin Vice Chairman, S&P Global, left, moderates as ExxonMobil Upstream Company President Dan Ammann speaks at CERAWeek by S&P Global in Houston, Tuesday, March 12, 2025. (Kirk Sides/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images)
Houston Chronicle via Getty Images
ExxonMobil, which heads up the consortium developing the massive Stabroek oil and gas resource play offshore Guyana, announced on Monday that it has reached final investment decision (FID) on its Hammerhead project after receiving the required regulatory approvals. Hammerhead is the seventh major project undertaken by the consortium at Stabroek and is expected to achieve first production sometime in 2029.
“We continue to set a new standard in Guyana – advancing an impressive seventh project just 10 years after first discovery,” President of ExxonMobil Upstream Company Dan Ammann said in a statement. “In collaboration with the people and government of Guyana, we’ve helped build a thriving new oil-and-gas industry in the country that is creating jobs, supplier opportunities, profits and follow on investments.”
ExxonMobil serves as operator for the consortium, in which it owns a 45% working interest share. The other partners include the China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), which owns 25%, and Chevron, which owns the remaining 30%. Chevron formally became a consortium partner earlier this year with the completion of its $53 billion acquisition of Houston-based independent Hess Corp.
This latest milestone at Stabroek comes just six weeks following Exxon’s announcement that the consortium had increased overall capacity to 900,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd) ahead of schedule with the startup of its Yellowtail project. Yellowtail, the fourth project commissioned by the consortium, has a production capacity of 250,000 bpd, with its operations facilitated by the ONE GUYANA floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) vessel built and operated by Netherlands-based SBM Offshore.
The fifth and sixth Stabroek projects, Uaru and Whiptail, are both currently under construction. Exxon projects startup for production at Uaru to take place in 2026, with Whiptail volumes coming online in 2027.
Exxon says it estimates total capital outlays of $6.8 billion at the Hammerhead project, which will include a total of 18 production and injection wells. “This latest decision increases funds committed for seven approved projects to more than US$60
billion,” the company added.
Hammerhead operations will be facilitated by an FPSO owned by Tokyo-based MODEC, Inc., a major contractor in the global offshore sector with assets and operations in 18 producing regions. MODEC announced it had won the contract to develop the Hammerhead FPSO in April, simultaneously noting that the “Operations and Maintenance Enabling Agreement (OMEA) for MODEC’s Guyana fleet has been established to enable the operations and maintenance of multiple FPSOs under a long-term contractual arrangement.”
“We are incredibly honored and excited to have been awarded this contract,” MODEC CEO Mr. Hirohiko Miyata said in the company’s statement. “It is a testament to our team’s dedication, expertise, and commitment to delivering innovative and reliable offshore floating solutions. We look forward to collaborating closely with ExxonMobil Guyana to ensure the successful delivery of this second FPSO, contributing to the advancement of the offshore energy sector in Guyana.”
An Oil-Driven Bonanza For Guyana
The Guyanese offshore energy sector referenced by Mr. Miyata has turned the tiny South American nation of just 800,000 into the world’s fastest-growing economy in recent years. That reality may have impacted the country’s recent national election, in which President Irfaan Ali was overwhelmingly re-elected, outpacing his closest opponent by more than a 2-to-1 margin.
For Guyana and its people, Stabroek is the proverbial goose that has been laying the golden eggs, with more than $7.8 billion having been paid into Guyana’s Natural Resource Fund since production in the Stabroek block started in 2019. As the consortium continues to raise overall production, the government’s share and the investments it is making into the country’s infrastructure and environment will rise along with it. It has been and continues to be a true oil-driven bonanza.
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidblackmon/2025/09/22/exxonmobil-adds-another-major-project-to-its-guyana-oil-bonanza/
