ExxonMobil makes two more discoveries offshore Guyana as Liza FPSOs hit design capacity

Oil and gas major ExxonMobil has made two new discoveries offshore Guyana to the southeast of the Liza and Payara developments in the operated Stabroek block.

The discoveries at Seabob and Kiru-Kiru are the sixth and seventh in Guyana this year, with the total number of discoveries in Guyana at more than 25, ExxonMobil revealed on Tuesday.

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 drillship.

The Kiru-Kiru-1 well encountered approximately 98 feet (30 meters) of high-quality hydrocarbon-bearing sandstone and was drilled by the Stena DrillMAX in 5,760 feet (1,756 meters) of water. Drilling operations at Kiru-Kiru are ongoing.

Liam Mallon, president of ExxonMobil Upstream Company, said: “The resources we are investing in and discovering offshore Guyana will provide safe, secure energy for global markets for decades to come.”

The company’s 2022 investment plans include further exploration drilling and resource development in Guyana, where it is already increasing production at an accelerated pace. Two floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessels operating offshore Guyana — Liza Destiny and Liza Unity — have exceeded their initial combined design production capacity target of 340,000 barrels of oil per day.

A third project, Payara, is expected to produce 220,000 barrels per day. Construction on its production vessel, the Prosperity FPSO, is approximately five months ahead of schedule with start-up likely before year-end 2023. The fourth project, Yellowtail, is expected to produce 250,000 barrels per day when the ONE GUYANA FPSO comes online in 2025.

Just last week, SBM Offshore completed the project financing of ONE GUYANA for a total of $1.75 billion, secured by a consortium of 15 international banks. This will be SBM’s largest FPSO so far.

Guyana’s Stabroek block is 6.6 million acres (26,800 square kilometres). ExxonMobil affiliate Esso Exploration and Production Guyana is the operator and holds 45 per cent interest in the block. Hess Guyana Exploration holds 30 per cent interest and CNOOC Petroleum Guyana holds 25 per cent interest.

At least six FPSOs with a production capacity of more than 1 million gross barrels of oil per day are expected to be online on the Stabroek Block in 2027, with the potential for up to 10 FPSOs to develop gross discovered recoverable resources.