ExxonMobil in full speed considering fifth FPSO

Feb 11, 2021 News

– Mako-Uaru area likely target – Hess

By Kemol King

Chief Operating Officer at Hess Corporation, Gregory Hill. (Photo: Hart Energy)

Kaieteur News – ExxonMobil and its Stabroek block partners, Hess and CNOOC, are already considering their fifth production development in the Stabroek block, though they haven’t even completed the field development plan (FDP) for their fourth intended development yet. Moreover, the companies haven’t brought the second and third developments on stream either. This planned pace of development appears to be in-keeping with plans the company announced, to have five Floating Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessels operating in the Stabroek block by 2026, and further potential considerations for as many as 10 FPSOs in an undetermined period.
Discussing plans during Hess Corporation’s 2020 Q4 earnings call on January 27, Chief Operating Officer Gregory Hill said “Mako-2, which will be drilled later this year, could move the Mako Uaru area forward in the development queue.”
Mako-1 and Uaru were ExxonMobil’s 15th and 16th discoveries in the Stabroek block. ExxonMobil encountered approximately 164 feet (50 meters) of a high-quality oil bearing sandstone reservoir at Mako late 2019, and approximately 94 feet (29 meters) of high-quality oil-bearing sandstone reservoir at Uaru early in January of the following year. ExxonMobil had said that Uaru would be incremental to the resource estimate, but it is unclear whether by referring jointly to “Mako Uaru”, Hill meant that it could be a joint development as has been done with Payara.
ExxonMobil had integrated the Pacora-1 well – ExxonMobil’s seventh discovery in the Stabroek block – into Payara. The Payara development is actually the Payara-Pacora development.
Hill said in January, that the drilling of the Mako-2 appraisal well will follow the drilling of the Yellowtail-2 appraisal well with the Noble Don Taylor drillship. Yellowtail-1 is in the queue as the fourth intended development.
Asked by Barclays Capital analyst, Jeanine Wai, what puts Mako ahead of other potential development areas, Hill indicated that the decision would be ultimately confirmed by the results of the appraisal well.
“So, we know that the reservoir quality and the crude quality are going to be very high in that region,” Hill said. “So, that’s why it will move up further in the queue because if it’s what we think it is, that will be very high value barrels that we’ll want to move forward.”
The Stabroek block co-venturers, according to Hill, anticipate that Mako’s results would place it “in between Yellowtail and Liza-2.”
Liza-2 is one of the best projects in the industry, Hess’ Chief Financial Officer, John Rielly, had said last year, due to its world-class estimated breakeven price of US$25 per barrel. Yellowtail-1 is likely to prove itself close in profitability to Liza-2, somewhere between US$25-US$32 per barrel.
ExxonMobil is the operator of the Stabroek block with a 45 percent interest, while Hess has 30 percent and CNOOC has 25 percent. Exxon has been producing oil at Liza Phase One since December 2019. Liza Phase Two and Payara are expected to come on stream in 2022 and 2024.
Chief Executive Officer at Hess, John Hess, had indicated that Yellowtail is the most likely target for the fourth development. Hill said that the partners anticipate the submission of a FDP for that project by the end of 2021.
While ExxonMobil said its production target for five FPSOs is 750,000 barrels per day, Kaieteur News has projected that production would far exceed that, with a likelihood of one million barrels of oil per day.

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