The ExxonMobil-operated Stabroek Block was the site of two out of 12 high-impact discoveries of oil and/or gas made around the world in 2023, according to UK-based energy consultancy Westwood Global Energy Group.
Westwood said during its State of Exploration 2024 webinar that 15 commercial discoveries were made around the world in 2023. Of that lot, it found 12 to be high-impact discoveries, meaning they are estimated to contain more than 100 million barrels of oil equivalent.
Global E&A Business Manager at Westwood, Shereen Nairne, said, “The largest of these discoveries was Eni’s Geng North in Indonesia and it’s potentially the largest discovery in Indonesia for over 20 years.” Westwood estimates the Geng North volumes to be more than 700 million barrels of recoverable gas and condensate.
Offshore Guyana, Westwood estimated that ExxonMobil’s Fangtooth SE and Lancetfish oil discoveries were both high impact finds, with Fangtooth SE being larger.
ExxonMobil announced the Fangtooth SE-1 discovery in January 2023. This was a follow-up well to the Fangtooth-1 discovery announced a year earlier. The Stabroek Block partners were considering the discoveries made at the Fangtooth area for their seventh oil development but eventually decided to go with Hammerhead.
As for Lancetfish, Exxon announced an initial discovery at Lancetfish-1 in April 2023. Exxon partner, Hess, announced an additional discovery at the Lancetfish-2 appraisal well in October 2023.
Notably, Westwood said ExxonMobil was the most active high-impact explorer in the 2019-2023 period, followed by Shell and TotalEnergies. ExxonMobil Guyana most notably had its biggest exploration year in this period, 2022. In that year, the company announced nine discoveries offshore Guyana. Westwood had estimated all nine to be high impact, amounting to more than 900 million barrels altogether.
ExxonMobil is the operator of the Stabroek Block, partnered with Hess (30%) and CNOOC (25%).
