More oil discoveries to benefit Guyanese – Min. Bharrat

─ as Exxon announces more offshore discoveries

Government has welcomed the latest oil discoveries announced by US oil giant ExxonMobil, which, Minister of Natural resources Vickram Bharrat said, will further translate into improved living standards for Guyanese.

The oil and gas company announced the discovery of commercial quantity of oil at its Seabob and Kiru-Kiru wells Tuesday.

The company said the Seabob-1 well encountered approximately 131 feet (40 meters) of high-quality hydrocarbon-bearing sandstone and was drilled in 4,660 feet (1,421 meters) of water by the Stena Carron drill ship. The Kiru-Kiru-1 well encountered approximately 98 feet (30 meters) of high-quality hydrocarbon-bearing sandstoneand was drilled by the Stena DrillMAX in 5,760 feet (1,756 meters) of water.

With these two discoveries, the oil find of ExxonMobil has increased to seven so far for 2022.

During an interview with DPI, Minister of Natural Resources, Vickram Bharrat said the discovery adds to the already discovered 11 billion barrels of oil in Guyana and will also increase production.

He affirmed that Guyanese will benefit from the money accrued from the oil and gas sector.

“This obviously will lead to our long-term plan of having 10 FPSOs in the next 10 years. We already signed to other production licences, Pyara and Yellow-tail. Definitely, these resources now discovered will add to the other developments. So, it’s something that the Government of Guyana welcomes and we look forward for even more positive results as we continue exploration activities offshore.”

So far, 32 wells in the Stabroek Block have yielded positive results for oil extraction, which takes the total to 38 oil discoveries offshore Guyana.

Minister Bharrat is eager for oil discovery in other blocks.

“We will be happy to have discoveries made outside of the Stabroek Block as well too, because that will bring development to different parts of the country. For example, in the Corentyne Block, should we have another discovery move to a development, it simply means more development for Region Six, Region Five and those areas. They will probably see development that is taking place in Regions Three and Four, right now, based on the Stabroek Block.”

Minister Bharrat committed to enhancing the framework to better manage the sector.

Already, government established the Natural Resource Fund, which ensures greater accountability and transparency in the spending of the revenues accrued from the sale of crude oil.