Yellowtail, Redtail wells to be “tied” in production- Hess

Last Updated on Wednesday, 27 April 2022, 22:57 by Denis Chabrol

Hess Corporation on Wednesday said the large Yellowtail oil well would be developed jointly with the nearby Redtail well which are both the Stabroek Block offshore Guyana.

“There’s also a Redtail discovery that’s being tied into that as well,” said Hess’ Chief Operating Officer, Greg Hill on the first quarter 2022 earnings call.

Industry players have been touting Yellowtail as the single biggest development that would yield 925 barrels of oil, but Mr. Hill on Wednesday clarified that  the Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessels would be producing oil for much longer at one location because they would be connected to more than one named oil well.

“I think you could assume extended plateaus on all the vessels as we go out in time, just because of resource density in and around these hubs. So they’ll be longer than what a typical deepwater development would be. But again, they’ll all be different,” he said.

Days after Yellowtail was approved by the Guyana government, ExxonMobil and its co-venturers Hess and CNOOC announced a US$10 billion Final Investment Decision (FID).

Hess projects a breakeven of US$29 per barrel at Yellowtail with a 2025 startup.

And the Hess Chief Operating Officer also told the earnings call that during the second quarter the exploration well Seabob, located
10 miles south of Yellowtail, and Kiru-Kiru, located 3 miles southeast of Cataback will be drilled. He said a Fangtooth appraisal well is also planned for the fourth quarter of this year.

Earlier this week, ExxonMobil estimated that the Stabroek Block now has more than 11 million barrels of oil equivalent with three discoveries at Patwah, Lukanani and Barreleye.