EXXONMOBIL this week mobilised drillship Stena Carron to another location offshore Guyana where it foresees oil reservoirs similar in prospects to its previous Liza well discoveries.
Results of the latest drilling exercise are expected in January.According to a report published Thursday night by Upstreamonline,a global oil and gas source, the drill ship left for the Payara wildcat (area where there was no previous or historic finds), on Thursday, where the United States oil giant will test the third prospect on the same block as its massive Liza oil discovery.
The company’s partner, Hess Corporation, chief executive, John Hess said on a third-quarter conference call that Payara was a “very similar stratigraphic trap and same kind of reservoir sequence as the other Liza wells”.
The Stena Carron drilled Liza 3 , where discoveries were announced last month , to a total depth of 18,100 feet in 6000 feet of water on a location about 2.7 miles (4.3 kilometres) from the Liza 1 discovery.
The Liza 3 well hit around 200 feet (61 metres) of net pay “in the same high-quality reservoirs” as the first two Liza wells, according to block partner Hess.
“Based on the Liza-3 results, we now expect the estimated recoverable resources to be at the upper end of the previously announced range of 800 million to 1.4 billion barrels of oil equivalent,” Hess said when announcing its third-quarter results.
All the wells are located on the giant 6.6 million-acre Stabroek block, which runs almost the entire length of Guyana’s offshore zone.
The Liza 1 was the first well drilled last year followed by Liza 2 where a significant discovery was announced this year. Shortly after, the SkipJack, a well located in a different field was drilled and that came up dry.
Late last month, Hess Corporation, during its third-quarter earnings on Wednesday, revealed that the Liza-3 well located in the Stabroek Block offshore Guyana has a world-class oil discovery. According to the company’s website, there are estimated recoverable resources for Liza now expected to be at the upper end of the previously announced range of 800M to 1.4B barrels of oil equivalent.
Esso Exploration and Production Guyana is operator and holds 45 percent interest in the Stabroek block. Hess Guyana Exploration holds 30 percent interest and CNOOC Nexen Petroleum Guyana holds 25 percent interest.