The 2022 Bareleye discovery in Guyana’s prolific Stabroek Block is up for further appraisal, ExxonMobil Guyana’s President Alistair Routledge announced during a recent press conference at the company’s new Ogle campus.
Routledge disclosed that the company has already advanced its second appraisal step and plans a third. “We’ve recently completed the Barreleye-2 well, which enabled us to go in and we run a drill stem test,” he said. “We anticipate actually coming back to the Barreleye reservoirs and doing a further test; Barreleye-3 either later this year or going into early next year.”
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Routledge described the area as technically challenging and explained just why another pass is needed: “This is another complex set of reservoirs… in the up dip part of the Block… so we’ll come back later in the year or early next year… and continue assessing… making sure that we understand how best to develop that resource.”
Barreleye-1 was discovered in 2022, about 20 miles southeast of the Liza field, the site of Guyana’s first offshore oil development. Exxon previously reported ~230 feet (70 meters) of hydrocarbon-bearing sandstone, drilled in 6,315 feet (1,925 meters) of water.
The Stabroek Block is operated by ExxonMobil with a 45% stake, with co-venturers Hess (30%) and CNOOC (25%). Exxon has discovered approximately 11 billion barrels of oil equivalent since its first commercial find in 2015.
