Oil and gas company Hess Corporation on Wednesday disclosed that Guyana’s discovered recoverable resources offshore have climbed to a whopping nine billion barrels.
Less than one year ago, these numbers were just over eight billion, but Hess Corporation Chief Executive Officer (CEO) John Hess explained that the increase was linked to discoveries that were made back in September.
ExxonMobil’s subsidiary, Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL), which is a partner of Hess and the major operator in Guyana’s oil fields, announced a discovery at the Redtail-1 well, bearing quality oil deposits.
Redtail-1 encountered approximately 232 feet (70 metres) of high-quality oil-bearing sandstone and was drilled in 6164 feet (1878 metres) of water. The well is located approximately 2.5 kilometres (1.5 miles) northwest of the Yellowtail discovery.
In addition to the Redtail-1 discovery, at Yellowtail-2, 21 metres (69 feet) of high-quality oil-bearing reservoirs was encountered among the original Yellowtail-1 discovery intervals.
These discoveries were added to those of the Uaru well, made in January, which increased the gross reserves.
Hess, which has 30 per cent stake in the Stabroek Block, said during its third-quarter earnings report, that this could sustain a maximum of 10 Floating Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessels.
ExxonMobil made the first commercial discovery in Guyana in 2015 and started production in December 2019 from the Liza Destiny floating production and offloading vessel (FPSO), which can produce up to 120,000 barrels per day.
ExxonMobil continues to advance the Liza Phase Two project, which is expected to start up in 2022 and produce up to 220,000 barrels per day.
The Stabroek Block is 6.6 million acres (26,800 square kilometres). EEPGL is the operator and holds 45 per cent interest in the Stabroek Block. Hess Guyana Exploration Ltd holds 30 per cent interest and CNOOC Petroleum Guyana Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of CNOOC Limited, holds 25 per cent interest.
It was revealed that the Payara Project is set to bring in first oil in 2024, as the company moves to introduce at least five FPSOs on the block. The objective is to produce more than 750,000 gross barrels of oil per day by 2026.
