Exxon Mobil Grows Guyana Oil Find Estimates To More Than 8 Bboe

[Editor's note: This story was originally published at 7:48 a.m. CT Jan. 27, 2020.]

Exxon Mobil Corp. and partners have increased the recoverable resource estimate on the prolific Stabroek Block offshore Guyana to more than 8 billion barrels of oil equivalent (Bboe), excluding resources from their first discovery announced this year.

The company said Jan. 27 that the Uaru exploration well made the 16^th discovery on the block, hitting about 29 m (94 ft) of high-quality oil-bearing sandstone reservoir. Drilled in about 1,933 m (6,342 ft) of water, the well is located about 16 km (10 miles) northeast of the oil-producing Liza Field.

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The oil and gas success story unfolding has been transformative for the small South American country, which became a global oil producer with the startup of the Liza Field in December. Efforts toward finding and appraising resources on the block, which spans about 26,000 sq km, is enough to keep four drillships busy. A fifth is due to deploy later this year, Exxon Mobil said.

Results from the Tripletail and Mako wells drilled last year boosted recoverable resources discovered by the Exxon Mobil-led consortium. Partners are Hess Corp. and China National Offshore Oil Corp.

“With recent high-quality finds at Tripletail and Mako contributing to our recoverable resources, our investments will continue to provide benefits for the people of Guyana,” Mike Cousins, senior vice president of exploration and new ventures at Exxon Mobil, said in a news release. “The Uaru discovery is another positive step as we begin a new decade with the Cooperative Republic of Guyana and our co-venturers.”

The new recoverable resource estimate, which jumped by 2 Bboe, excludes the Uaru discovery. The oil major said Uaru would be added to Guyana resource estimates at a later date.

“We also continue to see multibillion barrels of additional exploration potential remaining,” Hess CEO John Hess said in a separate news release.

The news comes about a month after Exxon Mobil and Hess shared word of the discovery made by the Mako-1 well, which was drilled about 10 km southeast of Liza in about 1,620 m (5,315 ft) of water. It struck about 50 m (164 ft) of what Exxon Mobil also described as high-quality oil-bearing sandstone reservoir.

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Tripletail was drilled in the Turbot area, southeast of Liza. It was the consortium’s 14^th oil discovery on the block.

As exploration work continues, crews are moving ahead with development of the second phase of Liza, targeting first oil by mid-2022. Utilizing the Liza Unity FPSO, the development will be bigger than the first phase with a production capacity of 220,000 barrels of oil per day.

Liza Phase 1 production is expected to reach 120,000 bbl/d within months, according to Exxon.

“Pending government approvals and project sanctioning of a third development, production from the Payara Field north of the Liza discoveries could start as early as 2023, reaching an estimated 220,000 barrels of oil per day,” the company added.