Another major oil find is expected to be announced in the coming days, according to Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Guyana Office for Investment (GO-Invest), Owen Verwey.
He made this announcement during an address at the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) Offshore Europe Conference and Exhibition in Aberdeen, Scotland. According to a report by online magazine Petroleum Economist, Verwey said the announcement is expected in the new week.
“There have been some big discoveries and, by next Friday, we will be announcing another one… We are one of the hottest destinations for the oil and gas industry right now and that is set to continue,” Verwey was quoted as saying.
The GO-Invest Chief, according to the report, did not go into details of the new oil find and which company made a new discovery.
Canada-based Eco Atlantic Oil and Gas, the partner of British-owned Tullow Oil which recently found oil in the Orinduik block, spud another well late last month.
It is drilling on the Joe-1 well using the Stena Forth drill ship. Eco Atlantic had said it will take approximately three weeks to drill this well. The well itself is located in approximately 700 metres of water and according to estimates by international natural resource consultants, Gustavson Associates, it might hold 148 millions of barrels of oil.
On August 12, Tullow announced the discovery of oil in commercial quantities at the Jethro-1 exploration well in the Orinduik Block. This is the first discovery in the Orinduik Block, which is located in close proximity to the Stabroek Block – where United States oil giant ExxonMobil had already made 13 lucrative oil discoveries in the Liza and Payara fields.
The Jethro-1 well was drilled by the Stena Forth drillship to a total depth of 4400 metres in approximately 1350 metres of water.
According to a statement from the company, evaluation of the logging data confirmed that Jethro-1 comprises high-quality oil-bearing sandstone reservoirs of Lower Tertiary age, which simply means they date back to millions of years ago. It was noted that the well encountered 55m of net oil pay, which indicates a recoverable oil resource estimate that exceeds Tullow’s pre-drill forecast of 100 million barrels of oil.
Tullow is the operator of the Orinduik Block, with a 60 per cent stake. Total holds 25 per cent with the remaining 15 per cent being held by Eco (Atlantic) Guyana Inc.
Meanwhile, Repsol Exploration, a Spanish oil company, has also commenced drilling in the Kanuku Block of the maritime zone earlier last week.
The works commenced on September 1, 2019 at the Carapa 1 well site within the Kanuku Block and will conclude on November 30, 2019. These operations will incorporate the use of MODU Rowan EXL-II and the OSV Bourbon Calm during this period.
United States oil giant, ExxonMobil, made its 13th discovery offshore Guyana at the Yellowtail-1 well in April. Two months prior, the US super major made double oil discoveries at the Tilapia-1 and Haimara-1 well in the South-west section of the Stabroek Block.
Yellowtail-1, located some six miles North-west of the Tilapia discovery, encountered approximately 292 feet of high quality oil bearing sandstone reservoir.
That discovery adds to the previously announced estimated recoverable resource of approximately 5.5 billion oil-equivalent barrels on the Stabroek Block. Yellowtail-1 is the fifth discovery in the Turbot area, which ExxonMobil expects to become a major development hub.
According to Petroleum Economist report, the GO-Invest Chief says these finds will augurs well for Guyana’s future.
“GDP is going to double in a matter of 17 months… I do not believe another country in the world has experienced that speed of growth in the last century… There is a tsunami of cash investment coming into the economy, a huge increase in disposable income created by business activity.” Verwey was quoted as saying.
Some 15 local companies are among a Guyanese delegation which has travel to the oil capital of Europe, in Aberdeen Scotland for the region’s largest offshore oil exhibition which ran from September 3 to 6.
