The Uaru oil field lies within the Stabroek Block offshore Guyana, at a water depth of 2,000m.
The Stabroek Block is jointly owned by Esso Exploration and Production, a subsidiary of ExxonMobil (45%), Hess Guyana Exploration (30%) and CNOOC Petroleum Guyana (25%). Esso Exploration serves as the operator of the block.
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The project received government and regulatory approvals in April 2023, when the development partners took the final investment decision.
The field is being developed with an estimated investment of $12.7bn and is scheduled to commence production in 2026. It will produce 250,000 barrels per day (bpd) at peak production.
Location
The Uaru field is situated 16km northeast of the Liza field. It is Esso’s fifth project in the Stabroek Block, which covers 26,800km².
Uaru field discovery and reserves details
The Uaru oil field was discovered by the Uaru-1, the first well, in January 2020. The discovery well was drilled to a depth of 1,933m (6,342ft) and encountered 29m (94ft) of high-quality oil-bearing sandstone reservoir.
The Uaru-2 well is located 11km south of the Uaru-1 well and was drilled to a total depth of 1,725m (5,659ft) in April 2021. The Uaru-2 well encountered 36.7m (120ft) of high-quality oil-bearing reservoir along with newly identified intervals below the Uaru-1 discovery.
The field is estimated to hold more than 800 million barrels of oil.
Uaru oil field development details
The development plan for the Uaru field includes ten drill centres and 44 wells consisting of 21 production wells and 23 water and gas injection wells, which will be tied back to the Errea Wittu floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel.
The field’s subsea production system will include 44 subsea trees and associated tooling, 12 manifolds, control accessories and tie-in equipment.
Errea Wittu FPSO details
Errea Wittu FPSO will be based on the M350 new-build hull design of MODEC, a floating solutions provider for the oil and gas industry.
The FPSO will produce 250,000 barrels of oil per day and will have a gas treatment capacity of 540 million cubic feet per day (Mcf/d). It will have a water injection capacity of 350,000bpd, a produced water capacity of 300,000bpd and a storage capacity of two million barrels of crude oil.
The FPSO will be located 200km offshore Guyana at a water depth of 1,690m. It will be equipped with the SOFEC spread mooring system.
Contractors involved
MODEC was selected to provide engineering, procurement, construction and installation (EPCI) services for the FPSO in May 2023. Offshore Frontier Solutions, a joint venture between MODEC and Toyo Engineering, will also provide EPCI services.
MODEC was also awarded the front-end engineering and design contract for the FPSO in November 2022.
Aker Solutions, a provider of solutions for the energy industry, was contracted to supply three dynamic and seven static umbilicals 52km long.
TechnipFMC, an oil and gas services provider, was contracted to provide project management, engineering and manufacturing services for the subsea production system of the Uaru field in May 2023.
Strohm, a manufacturer of fully bonded thermoplastic composite pipes, was awarded a contract to supply 24 jumpers in January 2023. The jumpers, made of carbon fibre and PA12 polymer, will be installed at depths of more than 1,700m.
Saipem, an oilfield services company, was awarded a contract for the design, fabrication and installation of subsea structures, risers, flowlines and umbilicals for the subsea production system of the project in December 2022. Saipem plans to use the FDS2 crane vessel and the Constellation pipelay vessel for the project.
Vallourec, a tubular solutions provider, was contracted to supply 35,000t of line-pipe for the Uaru development, including 2,000t of X80, a material suitable for deep water operations, in November 2022.
