ExxonMobil Makes Two Oil Discoveries Offshore Guyana. Liza Unity FPSO on Track for First Oil in 1Q

Oil and gas major ExxonMobil on Wednesday announced two new oil discoveries offshore Guyana, at Fangtooth and Lau Lau wells, adding to previous recoverable resource estimate of 10 billion oil-equivalent barrels.

The Fangtooth-1 well, drilled with the Stena DrillMAX drillship, encountered approximately 164 feet (50 meters) of high-quality oil-bearing sandstone reservoirs. 

The well was drilled in 6,030 feet (1,838 meters) of water and is located approximately 11 miles (18 kilometers) northwest of the Liza field. 

The Lau Lau-1 well, drilled by the Noble Don Taylor drillship, hit around 315 feet (96 meters) of high-quality hydrocarbon-bearing sandstone reservoirs. The well was drilled in 4,793 feet (1,461 meters) of water and is located approximately 42 miles (68 kilometers) southeast of the Liza field.

"Initial results from the Fangtooth and Lau Lau wells are a positive sign for Guyana and continue to demonstrate the potential for the country’s growing oil and gas sector, ExxonMobil and our co-venturers in the Stabroek block,” said Mike Cousins, senior vice president of exploration and new ventures at ExxonMobil.

"The Fangtooth discovery is a successful result of our strategy to test deeper prospectivity, and the Lau Lau discovery adds to the large inventory of development opportunities in the southeast part of the Stabroek block. Both discoveries increase our understanding of the resource, our continued confidence in the block’s exploration potential, and our view that the many discoveries to date could result in up to 10 development projects.”

ExxonMobil has six drillships supporting exploration and development drilling across three blocks operated by the company offshore Guyana.

Liza Unity FPSO on Track for first oil

Separately, ExxonMobil said, progress continues on infrastructure for future field development. The Liza Unity floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel is undergoing hookup and commissioning after arriving in Guyanese waters in October 2021. The Unity is on track to start production in the first quarter of 2022 and has a target of 220,000 barrels of oil per day at peak production. The FPSO will be Guyana's second offshore facility to produce oil, after Liza Destiny started production in December 2019.

The hull for the Prosperity FPSO vessel, the third project on the Stabroek block at the Payara field is complete and topside construction activities are ongoing in Singapore for planned production start-up in 2024. The Field Development Plan and Environmental Impact Assessment for the fourth potential project, Yellowtail, have been submitted for government and regulatory review.

"These new projects continue to drive investment in Guyana’s growing economy. More than 3,200 Guyanese are now employed in supporting project activities, and ExxonMobil and its key contractors have spent more than $540 million with more than 800 local companies since 2015," ExxonMobil said.

The Stabroek block is 6.6 million acres (26,800 square kilometers). ExxonMobil affiliate Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited is operator and holds 45% interest. Hess Guyana Exploration Ltd. holds 30% interest and CNOOC Petroleum Guyana Limited holds 25% interest.

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