ExxonMobil has discovered over 670 million barrels of oil so far this year at Guyana’s largest deepwater block where well over 10 billion barrels of oil equivalent resources have been found since 2015.
On January 5, the U.S. oil major announced two more discoveries at the Stabroek Block – Fangtooth-1 and Lau Lau-1.
The Fangtooth-1 well encountered approximately 164 feet (50 meters) of high-quality oil-bearing sandstone reservoirs. The well was drilled in 6,030 feet (1,838 meters) of water and is located approximately 11 miles (18 kilometers) northwest of the Liza field. The Lau Lau-1 well encountered approximately 315 feet (96 meters) of high-quality hydrocarbon-bearing sandstone reservoirs. The well was drilled in 4,793 feet (1,461 meters) of water and is located approximately 42 miles (68 kilometers) southeast of the Liza field.
In a recent interview with OilNOW, Schreiner Parker, Rystad Energy’s Vice President for Latin America and the Caribbean, said the Norway-based independent energy research and business intelligence company estimates that these discoveries exceed 670 million barrels of oil.
“If we look at the 2022 discovered reserves volume; Lau Lau at Stabroek Block is estimated at 443 million barrels and Fangtooth, also in the Stabroek Block, at 230 million barrels,” he said. This makes for a total of 673 million barrels of oil discovered at the Stabroek Block so far this year.
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ExxonMobil’s Senior Vice President of Exploration and New Ventures, Mike Cousins, said the Fangtooth discovery is a successful result of the company’s strategy to test deeper prospectivity, and the Lau Lau discovery adds to the large inventory of development opportunities in the southeast part of the Stabroek block.
“Both discoveries increase our understanding of the resource, our continued confidence in the block’s exploration potential, and our view that the many discoveries to date could result in up to 10 development projects,” Cousins said.
But the Guyana oil strikes so far this year did not end with Exxon’s announcement of the Fangtooth-1 and Lau Lau-1 discoveries at Stabroek Block. CGX Energy said in February that it encountered a total of 200 feet of net pay at its Kawa-1 well on the Corentyne Block, which was later plugged and abandoned. The well was drilled to a depth of 21,578 feet (6,578 metres) on the northern section of the block.
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Parker said Kawa-1 is estimated to contain around 100 million barrels of oil.
“Any other country on earth these [Fangtooth, Lau Lau and Kawa] would be playmakers but of course now they are de rigueur here in Guyana,” he pointed out.
