The Noble Tom Madden drillship in Guyana’s waters offshore
Deepwater drill company Noble Corporation has had its contract with ExxonMobil Guyana extended, which means that the four drillships that have been integrally involved in some of Exxon’s world-famous oil finds in the Stabroek block, now have until 2028 to operate in Guyana.
The four contracted deepwater drillships Noble Corporation has active in Guyana are the Noble Tom Madden, Noble Sam Croft, Noble Don Taylor and Noble Bob Douglas. According to Noble in its fleet status report, the contracts for these ships have been extended until August 2028.
“ExxonMobil has awarded 4.8 additional rig years of backlog under the Commercial Enabling Agreement (CEA) in Guyana which has been assigned evenly across the four drillships, extending each rig’s contract duration from June 2027 to August 2028,” the report states.
The Noble Bob Douglas was contracted in April 2018, while the Noble Don Taylor was contracted in November 2019. Meanwhile, the Noble Sam Croft and Noble Tom Madden were contracted in April and December 2019, respectively. All four ships are rated for a water depth of 12,000 feet.
Back in 2021, Noble Corporation had merged with Maersk Drilling, in an effort to position them to better pursue opportunities in growing oil and gas exploration hotspots, including Guyana. At the time, Noble Corp President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Robert Eifler had described each drillship as a top performer on its own, according to several key metrics and that combined, they lead the pack among drill companies.
The companies have been looking to grow their operations in the Guyana-Suriname Basin. In Guyana, oil giant ExxonMobil has made more than 30 major discoveries as the operator in the Stabroek Block.
Guyana, with ExxonMobil as the operator, began producing oil on December 20, 2019, in the Stabroek Block. Guyana’s oil revenues are being banked in the New York Federal Reserve Bank, where it is earning interest.
For the first half of 2024, Guyana has produced 113.5 million barrels of oil, and with increased production from the Prosperity floating, production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel, it is expected that production would cross the 220-million-barrel threshold by year-end.
Exxon, through its local subsidiary Esso Exploration Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL), is the operator of the Stabroek Block, and holds 45 per cent interest in the block. Hess Guyana Exploration Ltd. holds 30 per cent interest, and CNOOC Petroleum Guyana Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of CNOOC Ltd., holds the remaining 25 per cent interest.
The Liza Phases One and Two and Payara projects, all of which combined are producing over 600,000 barrels of oil per day, account for the three FPSO vessels operating in Guyana’s Stabroek Block in waters offshore.
Exxon is also undertaking the Yellowtail project (where ongoing installation activities are expected to be concluded in September) in the oil-rich Stabroek block. It is estimated that when the Yellowtail development project comes on stream, production will climb to 810,000 barrels per day (bpd). Exxon has already received approvals for, and is advancing preparatory works on, its fifth and sixth projects, Uaru and Whiptail.
The Whiptail project would see Guyana producing just over 1.2 million barrels of oil per day by 2027. In addition to at least these six projects offshore Guyana, which Exxon anticipates would be online by 2027, Exxon is also eyeing the possibility of having 10 FPSOs being operational by 2030.
ExxonMobil’s seventh development in Guyana’s waters, dubbed the Hammerhead development, would feature up to 30 wells. It is targeting a 2029 start-up, according to documents submitted to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), where it awaits approval.
A perusal of the project summary reveals that the development would have between 14 and 30 production and water injection wells. It has been speculated that the project could be approved by next year, with production expected to begin in 2029.
When approval has been granted, it is anticipated that between 120,000 and 180,000 barrels of oil per day will be added to Guyana’s production capacity, while an FPSO vessel capable of storing between 1.4M and 2 million barrels of oil would be attached to the project.
