By Matthew Smith - Mar 25, 2025
Guyana has become a major player in the global oil market due to substantial offshore oil discoveries, particularly within the Stabroek Block led by ExxonMobil.
The country is projected to become the world’s largest per capita oil producer, with production anticipated to exceed one million barrels per day by 2027.
The rapid development of Guyana’s oil industry has led to exponential economic growth, making it the world’s fastest-growing economy in 2024.
In a mere six years, one of South America’s poorest nations, Guyana, has emerged as the world’s newest petrostate. There is speculation that the tiny country of less than one million is on track to become the continent’s second-largest oil producer. Even neighboring Venezuela’s President Maduro’s never-ending saber rattling over the Essequibo is not distracting the national government, in the capital Georgetown, from promoting the world’s fastest-growing oil boom. Guyana is now a major contributor to the world petroleum supply and will become the largest per capita oil producer, with production anticipated to exceed one million barrels per day by the end of 2027.
After decades of poor exploration results, which led to industry insiders concluding Guyana had little to no hydrocarbon potential, global energy supermajor ExxonMobil in 2015 hit it big in offshore Guyana’s 6.6 million-acre Stabroek Block. The Liza-1 well was drilled to a depth of 17,825 feet (5,433 meters) and encountered 290 feet of oil-bearing reservoirs (90 meters). Production from Liza-1 began in 2019, only four years after the discovery was made in an industry where it can take a decade, even more, to develop major deepwater petroleum resources. Importantly, in a world where low-emission fuels are in increasing demand, the oil being produced is light and sweet with an API gravity of 31.9 degrees and 0.59% sulfur content.
The 6.6-million-acre Stabroek Block is a stunning success for Exxon. The super major, which is the operator controlling 45% of the offshore acreage along with partners Hess (30% ownership) and CNOOC (holding a 20% interest), is investing heavily to develop the block. Exxon’s exploration spending is paying handsome dividends, with it making 46 discoveries in the Stabroek Block since 2015, which are estimated to contain at least 12 billion barrels of oil resources. There are now three floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) vessels operating in the Stabroek Block: Liza, Unity Gold and Payara Gold. Eventually, there will be six FPSOs operating by 2027, with the capacity expected to exceed 1.3 million barrels per day.
During November 2024, the Stabroek Block hit the impressive 500-million-barrel production milestone with significant growth ahead as the Exxon-led consortium continues to invest heavily in developing the Stabroek Block. January 2025 data, from Guyana’s Ministry of Natural Resources, shows the country was pumping more than 658,000 barrels per day from the three FPSOs operating in the Stabroek Block. The consortium has completed three projects in the block, with a further three being sanctioned by Georgetown in various stages of development. Exxon is seeking approval for two additional operations: the 180,000 barrel per day Hammerhead project and the Longtail gas development, which will target up to 1.5 billion cubic feet of non-associated gas production and 290,000 barrels of condensate per day.
The 250,000 barrel per day Yellow Tail project will be the fourth facility to come online in the block, with operations slated to commence during 2025 with the ONEGUYANA FPSO. This will see Guyana lifting over 900,000 barrels per day once the Yellow Tail facility reaches capacity, making the former British colony the world’s largest per capita oil producer. Exxon is developing two more projects, Uaru and Whiptail, in the Stabroek Block, which will come online in 2026 and 2027, respectively.
The $12.7 billion Uaru project will have a nameplate capacity of 250,000 barrels per day and will commence production in 2026. Uaru will be composed of 10 drill centers and 44 production and injection wells targeting an oil resource estimated to contain more than 800 million barrels. Exxon’s sixth project is the Whiptail development with a budgeted cost of $12.7 billion and capacity of 250,000 barrels per day from 10 drill centers with 48 production and injection wells. Start-up of Whiptail, which will see a sixth FPSO installed and brought online, is targeted for 2027.
While analysts anticipate that the Exxon-led consortium will be pumping 1.3 million barrels per day from the Stabroek Block by the end of 2027, that number could be significantly higher. When operational, the Uaru and Whiptail projects will add a combined 500,000 barrels per day of production capacity to the Stabroek Block, which, with 900,000 barrels per day already being lifted, should see output rise to 1.4 million barrels daily.
The rapid development of the Stabroek Block and sheer volume of world-class discoveries in offshore Guyana, now exceeding 50 since 2015, underscores the considerable oil potential possessed by the country of less than one million. Those numbers highlight that the US Geological Survey (USGS) seriously underestimated the hydrocarbon potential of the Guyana-Suriname Basin. In a 2012 assessment, the USGS estimated the Guyana-Suriname Basin had recoverable undiscovered oil resources of 13 billion barrels. That number is only slightly higher than the 11.6 billion barrels discovered by Exxon in the Stabroek Block.
Indeed, there is a swathe of hydrocarbon discoveries in the Guyana-Suriname Basin outside of the Stabroek Block, emphasizing how severely the USGS underestimated the basin’s oil potential. Six oil discoveries were made in offshore Guyana outside of the Stabroek Block, which have yet to be formally appraised. Those include the Kawa-1 and Wei-1 wells in the Corentyne Block, which are the subject of a dispute between Georgetown and the majority owner Frontera Energy. There were also four non-commercial discoveries: three in the Canje Block and one in the Kaieteur Block.
There are 10 deep water discoveries in offshore Suriname to consider, particularly with it estimated they contain 2.5 billion barrels of recoverable oil resources. The five world-class discoveries in Block 58, which is contiguous to Stabroek Block, are the most important. TotalEnergies, the operator, and partner APA Corporation are developing a 750-million-barrel resource contained in the Sapakara and Krabdagu discoveries, called the GranMorgu project, which is expected to commence production in 2028. Malaysia’s national oil company, Petronas, the operator with a 100% working interest, made three discoveries in Block 52 offshore Suriname, which are believed to contain 500 million barrels of oil.
Those developments underscore the considerable petroleum potential waiting to be exploited in offshore Guyana, which will boost reserves and production with the former British colony on track to become a leading global oil exporter. The rapid growth of Guyana’s oil industry is responsible for skyrocketing national gross product (GDP). For 2024, the former British colony is experiencing real GDP growth of a whopping 43.8%, taking its value to nearly $63 billion, making Guyana the world’s fastest-growing economy that year. That strong growth will continue into 2025, with the economy forecast to expand by over 14% to see GDP exceed $70 billion. This bodes well for Guyana, which is expected to become South America’s wealthiest country on a GDP per capita basis
By Matthew Smith for Oilprice.com
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