Exxon finds more oil offshore Guyana

Jul 26, 2017 News

ExxonMobil yesterday announced that it has discovered additional oil in the Payara reservoir offshore Guyana, increasing the total Payara discovery to approximately 500 million oil-equivalent barrels. This well is Payara-2.
Earlier this year, Exxon announced that that it has discovered oil in Payara-1.
ExxonMobil had said that Payara confirms the second “giant field” discovery in Guyana.
These positive well results increase the estimated gross recoverable resource for the Stabroek Block to between 2.25 billion oil-equivalent barrels and 2.75 billion oil-equivalent barrels.
The well was successfully drilled by ExxonMobil’s affiliate Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited and encountered 59 feet (18 metres) of high-quality, oil-bearing sandstone in the Payara field.
It was safely drilled to 19,068 feet (5,812 metres) in approximately 7,000 feet (2,135 metres) of water. The well is only 12 miles (20 kilometres) northwest of the recently funded Liza phase 1 project on the Stabroek Block, which is approximately 130 miles offshore Guyana.
Steve Greenlee, President of ExxonMobil Exploration Company is quoted saying “Payara-2 confirms the second giant field discovered in Guyana.” He said “Payara, Liza and the adjacent satellite discoveries at Snoek and Liza Deep will provide the foundation for world class oil developments and deliver substantial benefits to Guyana. We are committed to continue to evaluate the full potential of the Stabroek Block.”
The Stabroek Block is 6.6 million acres (26,800 square kilometres).
Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited is the operator and holds 45 percent interest in the Stabroek Block. Hess Guyana Exploration Ltd. holds 30 percent interest and CNOOC Nexen Petroleum Guyana Limited holds 25 percent interest.
The Liza has just about two billion oil-equivalent barrels. Extraction from the Liza field is expected to commence in 2020 at an initial rate of 100,000 barrels per day in the first phase.
However, many questions remain unanswered and little is known about the deals being made between the Government of Guyana and ExxonMobil.
The media continues to air a plethora of issues that need clarification and in some cases perspective but the government remains mum.
Just recently, Minister of State, Joseph Harmon was asked if there is a specific reason for government’s silence.
He responded “There is no reason for hiding information.” He admitted that the media has been putting out tremendous information about oil and gas. “Every single day in the newspapers there is statement or a report about oil and gas.”
Harmon also admitted the importance of keeping the media, and by extension the public, informed on the nation’s resources.
Nevertheless, efforts by civil society so far to get information out of the government about matters related to the oil deal have been futile.
The Transparency Institute of Guyana Inc. (TIGI) tried to get information out of the government in this regard. It had written to the Minister of Natural Resources, Raphael Trotman, seeking information. However, the body had to turn to the media after Minister Trotman refused to even acknowledge receipt of the letter. To this day, the body cannot get the information it is seeking.
The Guyana Oil and Gas Association (GOGA), also another non-governmental organization, wants information from the government that it is not getting.
One of the Association’s Directors, prominent lawyer Nigel Hughes, delivered a presentation in Trinidad and Tobago. He noted that the government has failed to give information about key concerns of the Guyanese people, including whether there is a ceiling for cost recovery in any given year. Hughes also pointed out that there has been no indication whether cost recovery is a percentage of revenue.
Hughes noted, too, that Guyanese are yet to be told how the government intends to validate the costs ExxonMobil has incurred. This is important, as the possibility of inflated cost cannot be ruled out.
Hughes said, “There is also an absence of any information on key variables, including life of the project in years, the total investment, the annual fixed cost per year, estimated cost of a barrel of oil for the project, and whether any duties, tax concessions were granted.”
The media, which also forms part of civil society, has been asking questions but still cannot get information. For instance, the Minister of State was asked to disclose the names of the lead negotiators that have represented Guyana’s interest so far. His response was, “Those names are still under wraps.”

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