ExxonMobil confirms oil discovery in second well offshore Guyana

The Liza-2 well, drilled 120 miles offshore Guyana, encountered more than 190 ft of oil-bearing sandstone reservoirs in Upper Cretaceous formations, reported ExxonMobil Corp. unit Esso Exploration & Production Guyana Ltd.

The Liza-2 well was drilled to 17,963 ft in 5,551 ft of water about 2 miles from the operators first exploration well, Liza-1, on the 6.6 million acre Stabroek block.

ExxonMobil president Steve Greenlee said a production test of the Liza-2 well confirmed “the presence of high-quality oil from the same high-porosity sandstone reservoirs that we saw in the Liza-1 well completed in 2015.”

The Liza-1 well, which was spudded on Mar. 5, 2015, drilled to 17,825 ft in 5,719 ft of water, and it encountered more than 295 ft of oil-bearing sandstone reservoirs (OGJ Online, May 20, 2015).

As early as 2012, the Guyana-Suriname basin began drawing interest from operators as a frontier region (OGJ Online, June 4, 2012). While Guyana has proven successful, Suriname has cooled considerably. Suriname’s state-owned Staatsolie reported last year that it had received two bids for Block 58 in its 2015 offshore deepwater bid round. No IOCs, however, bid on Blocks 59 and 60 (OGJ Online, Feb. 26, 2015).

Potential recoverable resources for the Liza discovery are estimated at 800 million to 1.4 billion boe, ExxonMobil said.

Esso E&P is operator and holds 45% interest in the Stabroek block. Hess Guyana Exploration Ltd. holds 30% interest and CNOOC Nexen Petroleum Guyana Ltd. holds 25% interest.

Contact Tayvis Dunnahoe at [email protected].