Despite the discovery of more than 3.2 billion barrels of oil off the Guyana coast, the South American country’s offshore basin still remains risky with no guarantee that the unprecedented rate of discoveries – seven to date – will continue.
Rod Henson, Country Manager of ExxonMobil Guyana – the lone company to have discovered oil in the country – told an oil and gas forum on Tuesday that even as the search for more crude is continuing, the company is cognizant of the risks that remain.
“Despite what you have heard, there is tremendous potential but Guyana’s offshore does remain to be geologically and financially risky. So our track record is …it would be unprecedented is that kind of success rate were to continue in the future,” he told those gathered at the recently concluded GTT Innov8 Summit, held in the country’s capital, Georgetown.
The Country Manager was however optimistic that more discoveries could be on the horizon and pointed out that technology would be playing a key role in this regard. “Certainly there will be more, but it’s really hard to say how much more. What is certain is technology is going to play a role,” Mr. Henson pointed out.
Guyana basin still risky for oil companies – Source
ExxonMobil along with joint venture partners Hess and CNOOC Nexen have had a string of discoveries since exploration at the Liza field yielded the first find in 2015. Pacora is the latest and 7th oil discovery in the 6.6 million acres Stabroek Block. The Liza, Payara, Liza deep, Snoek, Turbot, Ranger and Pacora discoveries have all been made in just over 2 years.
