The recent discoveries announced by ExxonMobil off the Guyana coast confirm the significant resource potential that exists at deeper targets on the 6.6 million acres Stabroek Block.
The Fangtooth and Lau Lau wells delivered a cumulative 479 feet of high-quality hydrocarbons and are seen as highly significant discoveries.
“What really excites me about this accomplishment is the support it provides for our strategy to test deeper targets – an approach that will open up the possibility for further exploration of the block’s potential,” said Mike Cousins, ExxonMobil Senior Vice President of Exploration and New Ventures. “While reservoir data is still being evaluated, these offshore discoveries will clearly add to the block’s resource estimate, which was increased to an impressive 10 billion oil-equivalent barrels following the Cataback discovery in October of last year.”
OilNOW understands that deeper targets can also serve as infill to existing Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessels in coming years, to extend the production plateau.
John Hess, CEO of Hess Corporation, a 30% stakeholder at the Stabroek Block, said two recent wells in particular—Whiptail and Pinktail, both had deeper zones with good quality hydrocarbons.
Fangtooth-1 unlocks new play; will ‘add significantly’ to 10-billion-barrel oil resource – Hess
A key analyst at Norway-based Rystad Energy told OilNOW that testing the deeper zones at existing discoveries is a cost-effective way of ramping up discovered resources and makes for good economics when taken to the development stage.
“Whereas, if you go to drill Ranger, for example, you’re really sort of starting the process all over again…” said Schreiner Parker, Rystad Energy’s Vice President for Latin America and the Caribbean.
The Stabroek Block still has multiple exploration prospects remaining with large swathes of the ExxonMobil-operated license still unexplored.
Palzor Shenga, Vice President for Upstream Research and Analysis at Rystad Energy said Guyana remains a key operational area for Exxon and will continue to be so in the future as the phased offshore developments continue to enhance production from already discovered fields.
“The majority of the block still remains unexplored,” Shenga said in a recent comment to OilNOW. “It’s only the eastern part where all the discoveries have been unearthed.”
Cousins said upward of 3,200 Guyanese are now supporting the exploration, development and production activities in the South American country, and there is much more to come.
