Guyana has approved the Longtail Project, its eighth offshore petroleum development and the country's first to target non-associated natural gas.

The Ministry of Natural Resources announced on Thursday that the Government had approved the project's Field Development Plan and issued a Petroleum Production Licence to ExxonMobil Guyana Limited, which will operate the project with co-venturers Hess Guyana Exploration Limited and CNOOC Petroleum Guyana Limited.

Located in the Stabroek Block, the development will target nine reservoirs and require a newly built Floating Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel.

The facility is designed to process approximately 1.2 billion cubic feet of gas daily and produce up to 250,000 barrels of condensate per day. Production is expected to begin before the end of 2030, with the project projected to yield approximately 776 million barrels of condensate over 30 years.

Plans also include 27 production wells and 18 gas injection wells. The development will allow for gas reinjection, while its design will make provisions for future gas exports.

The Ministry said the production licence requires additional studies on gas utilisation and exports, as well as safety management systems and the inclusion of gas export facilities in the FPSO's base design.

The project is also expected to support plans for a natural gas industrial site in Berbice, which could be supplied through a proposed second offshore Gas-to-Energy pipeline.

The proposed site is intended to attract industries including fertiliser production, alumina and mineral processing, and data centres, expanding the potential uses of Guyana's natural gas beyond electricity generation.