Exxon commences drilling operation at Yellowtail-2 Well

May 11, 2022 News

Kaieteur News – Oil giant, ExxonMobil, has launched another drilling campaign, this time at the Yellowtail-2 well site in the Stabroek Block of Guyana’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).
The offshore activity commenced Tuesday and will conclude on June 30, 2022.

The Stena Carron drill ship.

The well site is situated approximately 99 nautical miles (183.3 kilometres) from the coast of Guyana and covers an area of 0.29 square nautical miles (1 square kilometre).
The MODU Stena Carron will be engaged in the drilling activities, while a total of 26 vessels will also be used to support the drilling operations.
The Maritime Administration Department (MARAD) in a notice said all mariners are required to stay clear of the vessels and navigate with extreme caution when in the vicinity.
Meanwhile, development drilling operations will continue on May 15, 2022 at the LIZ_4P25 Well site and conclude on July 15, 2022. The well site is located approximately 104.2 nautical miles (193 kilometres) from the coast of Guyana and covers an area of 0.29 square nautical miles (1 square kilometre).
It was only on March 30 that ExxonMobil got approval from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to develop its fourth project, Yellowtail 1. The discovery was announced in April 2019 and is the company’s 13th oil discovery in the Stabroek Block.
The Yellowtail- 1 well was drilled in a new reservoir, encountering approximately 292 feet (89 metres) of high-quality oil bearing sandstone reservoir and was drilled to a depth of 18,445 feet (5,622 metres) in 6,046 feet (1,843 metres) of water.
Following that approval, the company announced an additional three oil finds in the rich Stabroek Block, increasing its estimate of the recoverable resource to nearly 11 billion oil-equivalent barrels.
Expounding on the discoveries made, it said the Barreleye-1 well encountered approximately 230 feet (70 metres) of hydrocarbon-bearing sandstone and was drilled in 3,840 feet (1,170 metres) of water.
It noted too, that drilling at Patwa-1 encountered 108 feet (33 metres) of hydrocarbon-bearing sandstone and was conducted in 6,315 feet (1,925 metres) of water while the Lukanani-1 well encountered 115 feet (35 metres) of hydrocarbon-bearing sandstone and was drilled in a water depth of 4,068 feet (1,240 metres). Operations are ongoing at Barreleye-1 and Lukanani-1.
“These discoveries and the updated resource estimate increase the confidence we have in our ambitious exploration strategy for the Stabroek Block and will help to inform our future development plans for the southeast part of the block,” said Liam Mallon, President of ExxonMobil Upstream Company.
Back in September, this newspaper reported that Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL)—ExxonMobil’s subsidiary—will by the end of 2025 spud some 52 wells across the Stabroek and Canje Blocks in a five year period, having begun an aggressive campaign in late December 2020.
The cost for and oversight of the exploration wells by oil companies have been a bone of public contention for years given the fact, that the expenditure is recovered from cost oil in any of the producing fields in the contract area.
This publication understands that EEGPL, prior to 2020, would have spudded some 80 wells but to date, the nation remains in the dark as to the cost of any of the wells previously or the ones recently scheduled.