ExxonMobil makes two new oil discoveries offshore Guyana

ExxonMobil and partners discovered oil at Sailfin-1 and Yarrow-1 wells in Stabroek block offshore Guyana, the company and partner Hess Corp. said in separate releases Oct. 26. Over 30 discoveries have been made by the operator on the block since 2015. The discoveries will add to the block’s previously announced gross discovered recoverable resource estimate of about 11 billion boe.

Sailfin-1 encountered about 312 ft (95 m) of hydrocarbon-bearing sandstone and was drilled in 4,616 ft (1,407 m) of water. It lies about 15 miles (24 km) southeast of the Turbot-1 discovery.

Yarrow-1 well encountered about 75 ft (23 m) of hydrocarbon-bearing sandstone and was drilled in 3,560 ft (1,085 m) of water. It lies about 9 miles (14 km) southeast of the Barreleye-1 discovery.

Both were drilled by the Stena Carron drillship.

Drilled earlier in the third quarter was the Banjo-1 exploration well. It did not not encounter commercial quantities of hydrocarbons, Hess said.

ExxonMobil’s first two sanctioned offshore Guyana projects, Liza Phase 1 and Liza Phase 2, are now producing above design capacity and achieved an average of nearly 360,000 b/d of oil in third-quarter 2022. A third project, Payara, is expected to start-up by end-2023, and a fourth project, Yellowtail, is expected to start-up in 2025 through the ONE GUYANA FPSO with production capacity of about 250,000 gross b/d of oil. The operator is currently pursuing environmental authorization for a fifth project, Uaru. A plan of development is expected to be submitted to the Government of Guyana before yearend. The development is expected to come online at end 2026 with a gross production capacity of about 250,000 b/d of oil, Hess said.

By the end of the decade, ExxonMobil expects Guyana’s oil production capacity to reach more than 1 MMboe/d.

Guyana’s Stabroek block is 6.6 million acres (26,800 sq km). ExxonMobil affiliate Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Ltd. is operator with 45% interest. Hess Guyana Exploration Ltd. holds 30% interest, and CNOOC Petroleum Guyana Ltd. holds 25% interest.