ExxonMobil announces oil discovery offshore Guyana at Tripletail
ExxonMobil has announced it made an oil discovery on the Stabroek Block offshore Guyana at the Tripletail-1 well in the Turbot area. The discovery adds to the previously announced estimated recoverable resource of more than 6 billion BOE on the Stabroek Block.
Tripletail-1 encountered approximately 33 m of a high-quality oil-bearing sandstone reservoir. Tripletail-1, drilled in 2,003 m of water, is located approximately 5 km northeast of the Longtail discovery. After completion of operations at Tripletail, Noble Corporation‘s Tom Madden drillship will next drill the Uaru-1 well, located approximately 10 km east of the Liza field.
“This discovery helps to further inform the development of the Turbot area,” Mike Cousins, Senior Vice President of Exploration and New Ventures at ExxonMobil, said. “Together with our partners, ExxonMobil is deploying industry-leading capabilities to identify projects that can be developed efficiently and in a cost-effective way.”
Exploration and development activities are moving forward elsewhere on the Stabroek Block offshore Guyana. The Stena Carron drillship is currently drilling the Ranger-2 well and upon completion will conduct a well test at Yellowtail-1. The Noble Bob Douglas drillship is currently completing development drilling operations for the Liza Phase 1 project. ExxonMobil will add a fourth drillship, the Noble Don Taylor, in October 2019 as the company continues to optimize its drilling plans based on well results and ongoing study of the basin.
The Liza Phase 1 development remains on schedule to start up by early 2020 and will produce up to 120,000 barrels of oil per day (bbl/d) utilizing the Liza Destiny floating production storage and offloading (FPSO), which arrived in Guyana on 29 August 2019.
ExxonMobil approved funding for the Liza Phase 2 development after it received government and regulatory approvals in May 2019. Expected to startup by mid-2022, the project plans to use the Liza Unity FPSO to produce up to 220,000 bbl/d. Pending government approvals, a third development, Payara startup could be as early as 2023 and production would reach an estimated 220,000 bbl/d.
The Stabroek Block is 26,800 sq km. ExxonMobil affiliate Esso Exploration and Production Guyana is operator and holds 45% interest in the Stabroek Block. Hess Guyana Exploration holds 30% interest and CNOOC Petroleum Guyana, a wholly owned subsidiary of CNOOC, holds 25% interest.
