Jagdeo still ‘iffy’ on Exxon’s 7th oil project
Vice President, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo
Kaieteur News – Vice President, Bharrat Jagdeo again on Thursday appeared to be in the ‘if’ stage on matters concerning ExxonMobil’s 7th project Hammerhead.
There have been concerns on the project raised to Jagdeo and recently he told this publication that there is an assumption that there will be a seventh project. On Thursday this publication asked Jagdeo to shed some light on “What improvements can Guyanese expect from the 7th oil project should it be approved?”
Trying to decide which word to begin with Jagdeo said: “When and if…if and or when and if we approve the project then you will be told about what the benefits will be. We have not looked at anything…there is currently no application in for the seventh project as yet, so when the application comes in that’s when we will start considering this matter.”
This has been the tune of Jagdeo ever since Exxon had begun public consultations on the project and concerns were brought to him. At a previous news conference in response to a question, Jagdeo had said: “So first of all, there is an assumption that there will be a seventh project. So we will get the application soon and at that time, the government will determine through two permits, one the licence and then the environmental permit, how it will deal with all of these issues.”
He had boasted that the administration has made the permits for previous projects public unlike the previous administration and they will be dealing with any issues as they arise. Jagdeo added, “Exxon still has to demonstrate that they will submit all the documents needed for us to assess whether the requirements are met. On the seventh project, we are yet to determine whether we want that on the cost bank now ahead of any clarity of how we are moving with the monetization of the Gas Project. So those issues will be determined next week.”
The Hammerhead discovery was announced in Aug 2018. Hammerhead is ExxonMobil’s ninth oil discovery in the Stabroek Block. The Hammerhead- 1 well was drilled in a new reservoir, encountering approximately 197 feet (60 meters) of high-quality, oil-bearing sandstone reservoir. The well was safely drilled to 13,862 feet (4,225 meters) depth in 3,773 feet (1,150 meters) of water. ExxonMobil is gearing up to drill as many as 30 wells at the seventh project. ExxonMobil is hoping to commence production in 2029 and could boost the nation’s oil output to more than 1.4 million barrels of oil per day (mbbl/d). The Hammerhead project is projected to yield a daily output of 120,000–180,000 barrels (bbl) of crude oil, less than the 250,000bbl produced by the country’s largest vessels. Exxon has disclosed that the planned vessel for the project will have a storage capacity ranging from 1.4mbbl to 2mbbl of oil. The floating production unit is expected to be a very large crude carrier conversion facility 15 km south-west of Liza Destiny, Exxon’s inaugural platform in Guyana.
