The unprecedented discoveries in the Guyana-Suriname Basin formed the basis of discussions on day 3 of the Offshore Technology Conference at a session where key stakeholders shared their views and talked about upcoming exploration and production campaigns. Chief among them was ExxonMobil’s Senior Vice President, Exploration and New Ventures, Mike Cousins, who said discoveries in the basin span around 100 million years of deposition.
Speaking directly after Guyana’s Minister of Natural Resources, Vickram Bharrat, who said the government is happy to be partnering with those committed to developing the country’s vast hydrocarbon resources, Cousins said ExxonMobil is serious about this endeavor.
“The idea that Guyana has a right – very important word – to produce their oil and gas, and something else that the minister just said a minute ago, which was they really want people who are serious about developing the natural resources. I can guarantee you, minister; we are very serious about developing the natural resources,” Cousins said.
Exxon has made around 22 discoveries offshore Guyana since 2015 at the prolific Stabroek block where it is the operator. The U.S. oil major is also the operator of the Canje and Kaieteur blocks. Over in Suriname, Exxon and Petronas (operator) hold the Block 52 acreage where the first discovery was announced in December 2020.
“The exploration success in the basin, and the reason a lot of you are here today, is truly unprecedented,” Cousins told the attendees. “We talk about ExxonMobil being involved in over 20 discoveries in the basin in an incredibly short period of time. We talk about 9 billion barrels of oil equivalent in an incredibly short period of time. For those geoscientists in the room, the discoveries that we have made in Guyana and Suriname, they span about 100 million years of deposition.”
He said the basin has been depositing reservoirs and filling with hydrocarbons for tens of millions of years.
“It is absolutely fascinating. There is also, as the minister said; there’s significant potential still to come. If you combine Guyana and Suriname, of course the number around 12 billion oil equivalent barrels and a lot more, still to come,” he said.
Cousins, a geoscientist with 40 years’ experience in the industry, said just a fraction of the basin has been explored so far and looking at the location of the proven resources show just how prolific Exxon has been with the discoveries, from Liza all the way down to the southeast, from Haimara.
