Double strike!

─ ExxonMobil and Tullow both announce oil finds

─ 16 in total since May 2015

Guyana’s oil and gas sector continues to expand as the country moves towards first oil in early 2020. Director of the Department of Energy, Dr. Mark Bynoe this morning announced that both Tullow Oil and ExxonMobil have made discoveries of oil in commercial quantities.

The finds mark the second for Tullow in the Orinduik block, and the fourteenth for ExxonMobil in the Stabroek Block. This brings the total number of oil discoveries from 2015 to date, to 16.

“We are particularly appreciative of the prolific rate at which Guyana has been able to uncover very valuable resource,” Dr. Bynoe stated in an invited comment. He said that the fifteenth and sixteenth oil discoveries “demonstrates that the country has substantial oil resources.”

The Energy Director noted that while it is too early to determine the number of oil-equivalent barrels, Guyana’s estimated production has exceeded expectations.

“We now have to do further tests to be able to determine potential barrel equivalency before we can make that projection.  It seems as Guyana is well on the upward trajectory to be way beyond the 6.5 billion as we go forward.

This morning, it was announced that Joe-1 exploration well was successful; making it the second discovery of oil in two different wells operated by Tullow, in less than six weeks.

The Joe-1 exploration well was drilled by the Stena Forth drillship to a total depth of 2,175 metres in water depth of 780 metres. The evaluation of logging and sampling data confirms that Joe-1 has encountered 14 metres of net oil pay in high-quality oil-bearing sandstone reservoirs of Upper Tertiary age.

A few hours after Tullow’s discovery was announced, ExxonMobil reported that it had encountered approximately 108 feet (33 meters) of a high-quality oil-bearing sandstone reservoir at Tripletail-1. The well was drilled in 6,572 feet (2,003 meters) of water, is located approximately 3 miles (5 kilometres) northeast of the Longtail discovery.

In a release from the US oil giant, Senior Vice President of Exploration and New Ventures Mike Cousins, stated that “this discovery helps to further inform the development of the Turbot area… together with our partners, ExxonMobil is deploying industry-leading capabilities to identify projects that can be developed efficiently and in a cost-effective way.”

With the recent finds, Dr. Bynoe assured that “the government will continue to work conscientiously to pursue the most effective and efficient marketing strategies of Guyana’s crude entitlement to transform our economy and to implement sustainable development programmes from which all Guyanese can benefit.”

Additional discoveries in the coming years will see Guyana moving closer to the top ten and possibly break into it. The rate of discoveries in Guyana has been deemed to be astronomical when compared to the rate of discoveries in other parts of the world.