Oil and gas industry analyst Wood Mackenzie says Guyana could surpass Venezuela and Mexico in its oil production thanks to ExxonMobil’s run of success in oil exploration and noted that the country is on the path to becoming a Latin American powerhouse.
ExxonMobil and its joint venture partners HESS and CNOOC Nexen on December 3, 2018 announced their tenth Guyana discovery, increasing the recoverable resource in the Stabroek Block to more than five billion barrels.
According to WoodMac, the Liza complex is now on track to produce a million barrels per day. It now compares to Brazil’s Lula-Iracema, one of the world’s largest deepwater finds, said Luiz Hayum, research analyst with Wood Mackenzie’s Latin America upstream oil and gas team.
ExxonMobil holds 45 percent interest in the 6.6-million-acre Stabroek Block, while Hess holds 30 percent interest and CNOOC Nexen holds 25 percent interest.
“With 17 prospects still to drill, Stabroek is writing Guyana’s future. It will easily become the fourth largest oil producing nation in Latin America by the next decade, with chances to outperform the countries preceding it. If Venezuela and Mexico fail to address production declines, Guyana could quickly surpass them to number two,” Hayum is quoted as saying.
Noting ExxonMobil and its partners’ success rate at the Stabroek Block, Hayum said: “The giant, low breakeven discoveries are key to the partners. At peak, the project accounts for a third of Hess’ future production. For ExxonMobil, Guyana strengthens its growing deepwater portfolio, while for CNOOC it addresses efforts to offset domestic declines.”
