– 3 of 5 globally approved FPSO projects in Guyana, Brazil
Guyana is in good company when it comes to successful oil exploration. It turns out that along with Suriname and Brazil, it discovered three billion barrels of oil equivalent (BoE) for 2020.
This is according to Norwegian energy consultant Rystad Energy, which looked at the three South American countries and their oil finds last year. In its newsletters, it was pointed out by the consultant that at a time of market turbulence, these countries led from the front.
“Between continued exploration success within the Guyana-Suriname basin, increasing M&A activity in the Brazilian offshore space and record production out of the Vaca Muerta in Argentina, the Latin America region continues to display its importance in the global energy mix,” Rystad Energy said.
“South America kept up the momentum from 2019 through last year’s market turbulence and topped the global ranking for exploration success for a second year running. The region delivered more than three billion barrels of oil equivalent discovered in Guyana, Suriname, and Brazil during the year.”
According to Rystad, the region also led sanctioning activity in 2020, that is the approval of large-scale oil developments. Rystad noted that the region contributed about 30 per cent of the total sanctioned investments as projects in Brazil and Guyana were greenlighted.
In fact, it was pointed out that three of the five Floating Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel projects sanctioned globally were in South America, reinforcing the region’s emergence as an FPSO hub.
Rystad Energy then referenced Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited’s US$9 billion Payara project, for which governmental approval was granted last year, and the Pacora project.
Last year, Exxon made discoveries via the Redtail-1 and the Uaru-1 wells. The Redtail-1 discovery was announced on September 8, 2020, with Guyana’s Natural Resources Minister, Vickram Bharrat, in a statement, speaking of the significance of the discovery and Exxon’s continued pursuit of high-quality reservoirs.
“The Government of Guyana welcomes the Redtail discovery and remains committed to the development of Guyana’s oil and gas resources… the ExxonMobil exploration programme continues to identify high-quality reservoirs in close proximity to previous discoveries. This will play an integral part in our long-term growth plans which will bring significant value to Guyana’s development,” he had said.
“This discovery comes in wake of our country’s budget for the year 2020 and complements the number of progressive measures announced by Dr Irfaan Ali, President of Guyana and Vice President, Dr Bharrat Jagdeo. I assure you that the Government will do everything possible to ensure benefits from this and other sectors enhance the lives of all our people,” he added.
The company discovered oil via the Uaru-1 well back in January 2020. Uaru was ExxonMobil’s 16th oil discovery in the Stabroek Block. The Uaru-1 well was drilled in a new reservoir, encountering approximately 29 metres (94 feet) of high-quality oil-bearing sandstone reservoir and was drilled in 1933 metres (6342 feet) of water.
In 2019, Exxon made five discoveries offshore Guyana, via the Tilapia-1, Haimara-1, Yellowtail-1, Tripletail-1 and Mako-1 wells. These discoveries had pushed the total estimated recoverable BoE to over six billion.
It was previously disclosed in February of this year that over US$200 million earned in oil revenues is currently in Guyana’s Natural Resource Fund, with the latest payment made in January this year.
Vice President Jagdeo made this disclosure during a press conference. He explained that US$206.6 million (G$43.1 billion) is currently in the NRF, including the latest royalty payment of US$8.3 million, which was received in January.
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