Throwback: Top oil & gas final investment decision picks

As the global oil and gas story expands with new discoveries and projects, many operators have been laying the groundwork to make final investment decisions (FIDs) for the undeveloped assets in their portfolios. Since many companies decided to sanction their existing developments in 2025, Offshore Energy has made a collection featuring some of these moves.

While multiple FIDs were made during 2025, Offshore-Energy.biz has selected to spotlight seven global developments. The first one came from Equinor, which opted to sanction the Johan Sverdrup Phase 3 development in the Norwegian North Sea.

This project covers new subsea infrastructure to increase recoverable volumes by 40–50 million barrels of oil equivalent at the third-largest oil field on the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS). The total investments are estimated at NOK 13 billion ($1.29 billion), with the production start-up anticipated in the fourth quarter of 2027. 

The second FID on this list was made by ExxonMobil for the $6.8 billion Hammerhead development as the U.S. oil major’s seventh deepwater oil project off the coast of Guyana. This project is expected to add between 120,000 and 180,000 barrels per day (bpd).

As a result, it is set to raise the country’s overall production capacity to nearly 1.5 million bpd after it comes online in 2029. The development entails a floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel with a capacity to produce approximately 150,000 barrels of oil per day.

The project will encompass 18 production and injection wells. ExxonMobil has tasked MODEC with an FPSO for Hammerhead, which will be moored at a water depth of approximately 1,025 meters using a SOFEC spread mooring system in the eastern half of the Stabroek block.

The third FID was taken by Chevron to develop the Gorgon Stage 3 project off the northwest coast of Western Australia, as a A$3 billion ($1.98 billion) backfill development designed to connect the Geryon and Eurytion gas fields in the Greater Gorgon Area to the existing subsea gas gathering infrastructure and processing facilities on Barrow Island.

This subsea tie-back encapsulates the installation of three manifolds and a 35-kilometer production flowline among other associated infrastructure, with six wells expected to be drilled in the two fields around 100 kilometers northwest of Barrow Island in water depths of about 1,300 meters.

The fourth final investment decision on this list was revealed by Navitas for the Sea Lion oil project in the North Falkland Basin, located to the north of the Falkland Islands. The current calculations indicate that $1.8 billion will be required to reach first oil and $2.1 billion to project completion.

While this project will be developed in phases, Phase 1 targets 170 mmbbls at a peak production of approximately 50,000 bbls/d. The subsequent phases are expected to be self-financing using the excess cash flows of Phase 1, which is slated to achieve the first oil in 2028. 

The fifth FID was disclosed by ConocoPhillips for the Previously Produced Fields (PPF) redevelopment project on the Norwegian Continental Shelf. Envisioned to bring high value barrels from 2028 onward, the project is designed to extend the life of the Greater Ekofisk Area (GEA) to enhance production capabilities.

This is a joint redevelopment of the three previously produced fields, Albuskjell and Vest Ekofisk in licenses PL018B/F and Tommeliten Gamma in licenses PL044/D, with recoverable gas condensate resources estimated at 90 to 120 million barrels of oil equivalent.

The operator’s calculations show that the project’s capital investment is approximately NOK 14 billion (gross $1.3 billion) for PL018B/F and around NOK 5.5 billion (gross $500 million) for PL044/D.

The sixth final investment decision was announced by Shell for the Kaikias waterflood project in the U.S. Gulf of America (Gulf of Mexico), which is expected to up the recoverable resource volume ante by around 60 million metric barrels of oil equivalent (P50).

Once first injection comes in 2028, the project is forecast to extend the production lifecycle of the Ursa tension leg platform (TLP) by several years. The Kaikias field is situated approximately 130 miles (209 kilometers) off the coast of Louisiana.

The seventh FID on this list was confirmed by BP for the $5 billion Tiber-Guadalupe project in the U.S. Gulf, which will add around 10 billion barrels of discovered resources in place across the firm’s Gulf of America Paleogene assets.

The development includes a new floating production platform with the capacity to produce 80,000 barrels of crude oil per day and six wells at the Tiber field and a two-well tie-back from the Guadalupe field. 

The fields are estimated to contain recoverable resources of about 350 million barrels of oil equivalent from the initial phase. The production start-up is scheduled for 2030.

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