Two more oil discoveries confirmed

Jan 06, 2022 News

…as Exxon boasts success rate in Guyana “not normal”

“…this is not normal, this level of success and we remain committed to our exploration activities offshore Guyana,” ExxonMobil Guyana President, Alistair Routledge

Kaieteur News – Guyana is on track of producing some 340,000 barrels of oil per day with the announcement that the Liza Unity Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) is poised to commence production in early 2022.

“This is not normal, this level of success and we remain committed to our exploration activities offshore Guyana,” ExxonMobil Guyana President, Alistair Routledge

This was announced by Minister of Natural Resources, Vickram Bharrat as he welcomed the announcement of two new oil discoveries made by the Esso Exploration and Production Guyana (EEPGL)—ExxonMobil Guyana’s—led consortium.

Bharrat made the announcement even as ExxonMobil announced separately that the Fangtooth-1 which was spud using Stena DrillMAX encountered approximately 164 feet (50 meters) of high-quality oil-bearing sandstone reservoirs. The well, according to ExxonMobil, was drilled in 6,030 feet (1,838 meters) of water and is located approximately 11 miles (18 kilometers) northwest of the Liza field. As it relates to the Lau Lau-1 well, spud by the Noble Don Taylor—the second of the six drill ships currently being used by ExxonMobil in Guyana—that well encountered approximately 315 feet (96 meters) of high-quality hydrocarbon-bearing sandstone reservoirs.

The well, ExxonMobil said, was drilled in 4,793 feet (1,461 meters) of water and is located approximately 42 miles (68 kilometers) southeast of the Liza field. “These discoveries will add to the previously announced recoverable resource estimate for the block, of 10 billion oil-equivalent barrels.” ExxonMobil Guyana, President Alistair Routledge in acknowledging the discoveries noted that “we tend to think that this is still a frontier exploration region so the success rate we are having really talks to the technology that we have been able to bring, the experience from various basins around the world; this is not normal, this level of success and we remain committed to our exploration activities offshore Guyana and hope to continue to extend and grow that resource base.”

Mike Cousins, senior vice president of exploration and new ventures at ExxonMobil in making the announcement said “initial results from the Fangtooth and Lau Lau wells are a positive sign for Guyana and continue to demonstrate the potential for the country’s growing oil and gas sector, ExxonMobil and our co-venturers in the Stabroek block.”
He said, “…the Fangtooth discovery is a successful result of our strategy to test deeper prospectivity, and the Lau Lau discovery adds to the large inventory of development opportunities in the southeast part of the Stabroek block.”
Both discoveries, according to Cousins, “increase our understanding of the resource, our continued confidence in the block’s exploration potential, and our view that the many discoveries to date could result in up to 10 development projects.”
According to Bharrat, “the Government of Guyana remains confident that these two additional discoveries, which add to the twenty-six commercially feasible finds, will further strengthen Guyana’s position as a country with world-class discoveries of high-quality hydrocarbon.”
To This end, he said, Government will continue engaging all stakeholders towards the exponential development of these resources for all Guyanese while maintaining a social, economic, and environmental balance.

The Liza Unity as it leaves Singapore waters destined for Guyana

In addition, the Government of Guyana is continually examining possibilities to strengthen oversight and management of the exploration programmes of all operators to further expand the sector through commercial discoveries. Providing an update, on the FPSO, which arrived in Guyana’s waters last October and is currently undergoing hookup for commissioning, ExxonMobil’s Cousins said, “…Unity is on track to start production in the first quarter of 2022 and has a target of 220,000 barrels of oil per day at peak production.”

Minister Bharrat in his announcement yesterday also reminded that the Liza Unity FPSO has a capacity of approximately 220,000 barrels of oil per day, “which will complement the Liza Density FPSO currently producing approximately 120,000 barrels of oil per day, bringing Guyana as an oil-producing economy to approximately 340,000 barrels of oil per day in 2022.”
As such, Bharrat used the opportunity to iterate, “the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Government of Guyana welcome these two new discoveries offshore Guyana and remain even more committed to the sustainable exploration and development of Guyana’s oil and gas resources. In this regard, I would like to reassure all Guyanese and stakeholders that this will be undertaken in keeping with international best practices for compliance and transparency within the petroleum sector and to ensure benefits are derived for all Guyanese.”
With regards the third project, Payara, ExxonMobil noted that the hull for the Prosperity FPSO vessel, is complete and topside construction activities are ongoing in Singapore for planned production start-up in 2024.

According to Cousins, these new projects continue to drive investment in Guyana’s growing economy and boasted that, “more than 3,200 Guyanese are now employed in supporting project activities, and ExxonMobil and its key contractors have spent more than $540 million with more than 800 local companies since 2015.” With regard, the Field Development Plan and Environmental Impact Assessment for the fourth potential project, Yellowtail, Cousins said, this has been submitted for government and regulatory review.