ExxonMobil Reviews Gas Mix at Guyana’s Stabroek Block Amid Expansion Plans
February 20, 2026
Exxon Mobil is continuing work to determine the size of natural gas resources at Guyana's prolific Stabroek Block, Guyana's energy minister said, as the company pursues broader development of the resource in the South American country.
The U.S. oil major, which leads the consortium that operates the Stabroek oilfield, has previously said that efforts to better understand the mix between crude oil and associated and non-associated gas were ongoing. An estimate is important to evaluate the potential for gas projects, both for the domestic market and exports.
"Exxon still needs to do more work to evaluate the amount of resources there," Vickram Bharrat, Guyana's minister of natural resources, said in an interview with Reuters late on Wednesday. He added that a state technical team was working with Exxon.
An Exxon spokesperson said in a statement: "As with previous projects, we will communicate the amount of resource we expect to recover from the gas developments when they are sanctioned."
The country has an estimated 11 billion barrels of oil equivalent and quickly became a top exporter in South America after Exxon discovered oil in 2015. Guyana's gas reserves could be vast.
Exxon is pursuing increased gas development, which it outlined at the Guyana Energy Conference in Georgetown this week as the next phase of growth in the resource-rich country. The company said, however, that the endeavor would be more complex than producing oil.
Exxon Guyana President Alistair Routledge said on Wednesday that the consortium will seek government authorization for a new, second gas development in the southeast portion of the Stabroek Block. The first major gas project called Longtail will start producing non-associated gas in 2030.
Exxon is evaluating the possibility of a second floating production storage and offloading vessel for the southeast portion of the Stabroek Block that would be almost identical to the FPSO for the Longtail project, Routledge said.
Gas from Longtail and the southeast gas region could feed into a potential new pipeline that the Guyanese government wants Exxon to build to deliver gas to the Berbice region.
Guyana Seeking to Advance Quickly on Gas Projects
Greenlighting the Berbice pipeline will depend on the Guyanese government developing enough industrial, long-term demand, both Bharrat and Exxon executives said.
Bharrat said the government has "had a number of companies making solid commitments" to take gas from the potential pipeline.
The first priority is to develop onshore industrial projects to advance Guyana's economy, such as data centers and fertilizer plants. Once it is determined there is excess gas beyond that, the government will seek to begin exports, he added.
Bharrat also said the exploration license granted to another Exxon-led consortium for the Canje block, located east of the Stabroek, was set to soon expire. Exxon will need to reapply if it wishes to remain in the block, he added.
Exxon Upstream President Dan Ammann declined to comment when asked about the company's plans for the block. Previous exploration wells in the Canje block have not yielded commercial discoveries.
(Reuters - Reporting by Sheila Dang and Kemol King in Georgetown, Guyana; Editing by Chris Reese, Nathan Crooks and Nia Williams)
