ExxonMobil has mobilised drillship Stena Carron to the Payara wildcat offshore Guyana where the US oil exploration giant will test the third prospect on the same block at its massive Liza oil discovery.
Drillship Stena Carron
The drillship left the Liza 3 location early Thursday for a 10-mile move north-east to the Payara location, where ExxonMobil and its partners will drill the latest wildcat on the sprawling Stabroek block.
US independent Hess and Nexen, a CNOOC subsidiary, are partners in the oil exploration activities being undertaken in Guyana and according to Chief Executive John He, Payara was a “very similar stratigraphic trap and same kind of reservoir sequence as the other Liza wells.”
Results from Payara are expected in January.
The Stena Carron had drilled Liza 3 to a total depth of 18,100 feet in 6000 feet of water on a location about 2.7 miles (4.3 kilometres) from the Liza 1 discovery.
The Liza 3 well hit around 200 feet (61 metres) of net pay “in the same high-quality reservoirs” as the first two Liza wells, according to block partner Hess.
“Based on the Liza-3 results, we now expect the estimated recoverable resources to be at the upper end of the previously announced range of 800 million to 1.4 billion barrels of oil equivalent,” Hess said, when announcing its third quarter results.
All the wells are located on the giant 6.6 million acre Stabroek block, which runs almost the entire length of Guyana’s offshore zone.
Only recently ExxonMobil’s Chief Executive Officer Rex Tillerson, reaffirmed the company’s commitment to exploration and said this year’s deep-water oil discovery off Guyana would be “easily” viable for development at today’s prices.
“We’re going to continue… the vibrant exploration programmes that are identifying new large resource opportunities,” Tillerson said.
“Yes [Guyana] is a deep-water development, but I can tell you that development is very viable at today’s prices, easily. We already know so much in terms of how to develop these kinds of resources and we’re taking advantage of market conditions,” Tillerson said, referring to ExxonMobil and its partners in Guyana, US upstream company Hess and China’s state-controlled CNOOC.
The resource estimate for the find offshore Guyana follows the much-watched drilling of the Liza-2 well, the second exploration well in the Stabroek block, which ExxonMobil operates with a 45 per cent stake.
The well found more than 190 feet (58 metres) of oil-bearing sandstone reservoirs after drilling to 5475 metres in 1692 metres of water.
In announcing recently that ExxonMobil’s exploratory well offshore Guyana named SkipJack had turned up dry, the company said it will continue with plans to develop the Liza well with its declared capacity of approximately one billion barrels and also look for other possible targets for drilling.
The SkipJack was spud on July 17, 2016, but turned up dry.
ExxonMobil’s Liza 3 spud on September 4 and, like its predecessor Liza 2, the well will focus on testing the flank of the Liza structure to determine the aerial extent of the reservoir.
Liza 2 hit more than 190 feet of net pay and caused ExxonMobil, along with partners Hess and CNOOC subsidiary Nexen, to boost their estimate of the recoverable oil in place at Liza between 800 million to 1.4 billion barrels of oil equivalent.
In July, ExxonMobil submitted a development plan for Liza to Guyana’s Environmental Protection Agency to begin the environmental review process.
All the wells are located on the giant 6.6 million acre Stabroek block, which runs almost the entire length of Guyana’s offshore zone.
Only recently ExxonMobil’s Chief Executive Officer Rex Tillerson, reaffirmed the company’s commitment to exploration and said this year’s deep-water oil discovery off Guyana would be “easily” viable for development at today’s prices.
“We’re going to continue… the vibrant exploration programmes that are identifying new large resource opportunities,” Tillerson said.
“Yes [Guyana] is a deep-water development, but I can tell you that development is very viable at today’s prices, easily. We already know so much in terms of how to develop these kinds of resources and we’re taking advantage of market conditions,” Tillerson said, referring to ExxonMobil and its partners in Guyana, US upstream company Hess and China’s state-controlled CNOOC.
The resource estimate for the find offshore Guyana follows the much-watched drilling of the Liza-2 well, the second exploration well in the Stabroek block, which ExxonMobil operates with a 45 per cent stake.
The well found more than 190 feet (58 metres) of oil-bearing sandstone reservoirs after drilling to 5475 metres in 1692 metres of water.
In announcing recently that ExxonMobil’s exploratory well offshore Guyana named SkipJack had turned up dry, the company said it will continue with plans to develop the Liza well with its declared capacity of approximately one billion barrels and also look for other possible targets for drilling.
The SkipJack was spud on July 17, 2016, but turned up dry.
ExxonMobil’s Liza 3 spud on September 4 and, like its predecessor Liza 2, the well will focus on testing the flank of the Liza structure to determine the aerial extent of the reservoir.
Liza 2 hit more than 190 feet of net pay and caused ExxonMobil, along with partners Hess and CNOOC subsidiary Nexen, to boost their estimate of the recoverable oil in place at Liza between 800 million to 1.4 billion barrels of oil equivalent.
In July, ExxonMobil submitted a development plan for Liza to Guyana’s Environmental Protection Agency to begin the environmental review process.
