Exxon finds more oil, plans six development proj. by 2027
As production continues offshore Guyana, ExxonMobil on Wednesday morning announced yet another oil discovery at its Whiptail-1 well. With the new discovery, the company said this increases the country’s resource estimate past the previously announced 9 billion recoverable barrels.
“This discovery increases our confidence in the resource size and quality in the southeast area of the Stabroek Block and could form the basis for a future development as we continue to evaluate the best sequence of development opportunities within the block,” Mike Cousins, senior vice president of exploration and new ventures at ExxonMobil was quoted saying in a statement.
ExxonMobil did not specify the size of the discovery but noted that it found 75 meters of net pay in high-quality oil-bearing sandstone reservoirs.
The company envisions at least six projects online by 2027 and sees potential for up to 10 projects to develop its current recoverable resource base.
The Whiptail Well is located approximately 4 miles southeast of the Uaru-1 discovery that was announced in January 2020 and approximately 3 miles west of the Yellowtail field. Whiptail-1 is being drilled in 1,795 meters of water by the Stena DrillMAX.
In the statement, the company also said drilling is also ongoing at the Whiptail-2 well, which has encountered 51 meters of net pay in high-quality oil-bearing sandstone reservoirs. Drilling continues at both wells to test deeper targets, and results will be evaluated for future development.
It also disclosed that the Liza Destiny floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel which earlier encountered some issues, is currently producing about 120,000 barrels of oil per day -its maximum capacity.
The startup of Liza Phase 2 remains on target for early 2022, and the Liza Unity FPSO with a capacity of approximately 220,000 barrels of oil per day, is expected to sail from Singapore to Guyana in late August 2021.
