-PM, other ministers get tour

PRIME Minister, Moses Nagamootoo, on Wednesday boarded the giant oil rig, Stena Carron, which is conducting exploratory drilling operations on the Snoek well, a new reservoir within the Stabroek Block 130 miles off the Atlantic sea-coast of Guyana.
The Prime Minister was accompanied by Vice-President, Sydney Allicock; Minister within the Ministry of Natural Resources, Simona Broomes, and Joanna Homer, Legal Officer.
According to a release from the Prime Minister’s Office, the 11-compartment Norwegian-owned drill ship has done advanced feasibility drills at the billion-barrel Liza wells, which is some 10 miles from the Snoek well, the latest in the string of oil finds in Guyana.
The Guyanese delegation met Rig Manager Kenny Ward, Operations Manager Allan

Mathieson and Drilling Superintendent Billy Jack Lawson. They explained various aspects of the new oil find and revealed that pipes have already been laid to connect with the oil well at the site. Various specimen and quality tests are also underway. They also displayed the rig’s computerized system to monitor oil extraction and safety issues.
Also on the tour were Doug McGehee and Kimberly Brassington, Operations Manager and Director of Government Affairs of Esso Exploration & Production Guyana Limited, the local incorporated company of ExxonMobil.
ExxonMobil has announced massive finds of high-quality, oil-bearing sandstones in Liza 1, 2 and 3 and the nearby Payara reservoirs that made Guyana the latest petroleum frontier. ExxonMobil has given a preliminary schedule of oil production in 2020.

An article which appeared in the New York Times in January stated that Guyana is poised to become the next big oil producer in the Western Hemisphere, attracting the attention and investment dollars of some of the biggest oil companies in the world. The report referred to an announcement by ExxonMobil and Hess Guyana Exploration of the successful drilling of a deep-water exploration well that may soon confirm that the seafloor beneath Guyana’s coastal waters contain one of the richest oil and natural gas discoveries in decades. Experts now estimate that one of its offshore fields alone, known as Liza, could contain 1.4 billion barrels of oil mixed with natural gas, comparable to some of the larger fields drilled in South America.
The report stated that early, rough estimates by experts of how much recoverable oil Guyana could have range to more than four billion barrels, which at today’s prices would be worth more than US$200B.
In addition to the Liza field, Exxon and drilling partner, Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited are also exploring the Payara field, which is part of a block of 6.6 million acres. On January 12, Exxon announced that its drilling partner encountered more than 95 feet (29 metres) of high-quality, oil-bearing sandstone reservoirs at Payara. It said that the area was safely drilled to 18,080 feet (5,512 meters) in 6,660 feet (2,030 metres) of water.

The Payara field discovery is about 10 miles (16 km) northwest of the 2015 Liza discovery. Exxon plans to move to two other locations in the months ahead, including the Liza 4 field.
Only recently government appointed Dr. Jan Mangal, an expert in offshore and civil engineering, as Petroleum Advisor in the Ministry of the Presidency.
Guyanese by birth, Dr. Mangal brings with him a wealth of technical expertise and experiences in the area of oil and gas development.
Minister of State, Mr. Joseph Harmon, has said that Dr. Mangal will be advising the administration on the development of the petroleum industry. “He will be advising the Minister and the Ministry of Natural Resources on matters of policy… We are happy to have a Guyanese person possessing the skills that are now available to us,” he said.