By Mikaila Prince
GEORGETOWN, Guyana, (DPI) – US oil giant ExxonMobil’s proposed Yellowtail petroleum development could provide some 1,300 jobs across its four phases. This is according to a non-technical summary document circulated at the first public hearing on the environmental impact assessment (EIA) of the project, held at the Umana Yana, Kingston, Monday evening.
In the first stage of the project, called well drilling, approximately 540 persons are expected to be employed at peak.
The second phase involves the mobilisation, installation and hook-up of the floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel and Subsea, Umbilicals, Riders and Flowlines (SURF). It is projected that this phase will provide approximately 600 jobs at peak, depending on final construction/installation and support vessel selection.
Both the first and second phases will occur in the years leading up to 2025.
The third stage, production operations, which include the FPSO and oil tankers, will employ approximately 100-140 persons at peak, with an additional 25-30 persons onboard the tanker.
The final phase, called decommissioning, would occur at the end of the project’s life cycle and is projected to employ approximately 60 persons at peak.
The first public hearing was jointly hosted by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and ExxonMobil’s local subsidiary, Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL).
Officers from ExxonMobil and the drafters of the EIA presented on the specifications of the project, and its studied environmental impacts.
Attendees were also afforded an opportunity to make comments and ask questions on matters included in the EIA scope.
The Yellowtail development, for which approval is being sought from the EPA, would be situated 126 miles from the shore, where ExxonMobil made its 13th discovery in the Stabroek block.
The development plan includes up to three drillships drilling up to 67 wells, the FPSO vessel and SURF production system, with tankers taking the oil to global markets.
Its initial production phase would commence in 2025, with optimum production capacity of 250,000 barrels per day, and would continue for 20 years. The FPSO is designed to have a storage capacity of two million barrels of oil.
ExxonMobil is the operator of the Stabroek Block. Its partners in the consortium are Hess Corporation and CNOOC Limited. If approved, Yellowtail would be the fourth development project for ExxonMobil and its partners in the Stabroek block.
This would cause the oil production capacity offshore Guyana to surpass 870,000 barrels of oil per day.
