More oil discoveries in Guyana
The Guyana government on Wednesday welcomed the announcement by American oil company ExxonMobil that it had made two discoveries at the Sailfin-1 and Yarrow-1 wells in the Stabroek Block offshore Guyana, taking discoveries in the area to more than 30 since 2015.
In a statement, the Ministry of Natural Resources said Guyana anticipated that the additional discoveries would further increase the country’s petroleum resources.
“As such, the Ministry of Natural Resources and its regulatory agencies continue to build capacity to enhance monitoring and exploration activities as Guyana’s offshore development and production accelerate at a pace that exceeds the petroleum industry average,” it said.
The ministry said that it had been advised that the Sailfin-1 well encountered approximately 312 feet of hydrocarbon-bearing sandstone and was drilled in 4,616 feet of water. The Yarrow-1 well encountered approximately 75 feet of hydrocarbon-bearing sandstone and was drilled in 3,560 feet of water. It said both wells were drilled by the Stena Carron drillship.
Natural Resources Minister Vickram Bharrat said that the petroleum sector regulatory agencies were mandated to enhance collaboration with all other operators to expedite their drill programmes “as we seek to further expand the sector through the discoveries of recoverable high-quality hydrocarbon”.
“Additionally, the much-anticipated bidding round for the oil blocks offshore Guyana is expected to bring new and emerging major petroleum companies to further increase Guyana’s oil and gas potentials,” Bharrat said.
The ministry also reported that the first two offshore projects, Liza Phase 1 and Liza Phase 2, are now producing above design capacity and achieved an average of nearly 360,000 barrels of oil per day in the third quarter.
It said a third project, Payara, is expected to start up by the end of 2023, and a fourth, Yellowtail, is expected to start up in 2025.
ExxonMobil is also pursuing environmental authorisation for a fifth project called Uaru. By the end of the decade, ExxonMobil expects Guyana’s oil production capacity to be more than one million barrels a day.
“The government of Guyana remains committed to the sustainable exploration and development of Guyana’s oil and gas resources in keeping with international best practices for production, compliance and transparency within the petroleum sector, and to ensure benefits are derived for all Guyanese,” the Ministry of Natural Resources added.
CMC