The resource growth in Guyana’s Stabroek Block is being described as ‘staggering’ by a top official at US oil major ExxonMobil who says while the average success rate in a frontier area is 10%, the company has had an unprecedented 87% success rate in striking oil off the country’s coast.
Displaying a chart outlining the resource growth at a recent presentation in the United States, ExxonMobil’s President for Upstream Oil and Gas, Liam Mallon, said the numbers are astounding. “I mean staggering by any accounts. Just look at the numbers, the current resource base is estimated at 5.5 billion barrels. That does not include some recent discoveries that we just made. We’ve had an 87% exploration success rate, 87%. 13 of the 15 wells were discoveries.”
Mallon said the other significant factor about the Guyana oil fields is that the resource has been found in different play types. “The other thing is it’s not just one play; we’ve unlocked many different plays…So it’s very exciting. And the other very exciting thing is, we’re not just exploring, in parallel with exploring, we are developing,” he stated, referring to the Liza Phase 1 Development project set to bring first oil by 2020.
Just Saturday, the 120,000 barrels per day Liza Destiny FPSO was commissioned in Singapore by Guyana’s First Lady, Sandra Granger, and will soon set sail for arrival in the country by September.
“I hope this ship will bring to us the people of Guyana not only prosperity in a physical sense but greater cohesion, greater development and of course, the sustainability of our country and the culture that we all desire. I hope that we will succeed together in this venture,” the First Lady said.
