Exxon, Tullow find more oil offshore Guyana

…after drilling Tripletail, Jethro wells

By Jarryl Bryan

Oil companies ExxonMobil and Tullow have made their 14th and 2nd oil finds respectively offshore Guyana, bringing the tally of wells that have struck oil to 16 and increasing the prospects that Guyana is sitting on more than six billion barrels of oil.

In the case of Exxon, it announced on Monday that it encountered 108 feet of oil reservoir in its Tripletail well, boosting its estimated recoverable barrels of oil. The announcement was made by way of a press release early Monday morning. According to the press release, the Noble Tom Madden drillship made the well in 6572 feet of water.
The Tripletail-1 well, according to Exxon, is located in the Turbot area just three miles from the previous discovery. The company noted that after work is finished at Tripletail, the drillship will next drill the Uaru-1 well.
The release also featured comments from Senior Vice President of exploration at Exxon, Mike Cousins. According to the Vice President, with this discovery Exxon would be working along with its partners on the further development of the area.
“This discovery helps to further inform the development of the Turbot area. Together with our partners, ExxonMobil is (seeking) to identify projects that can be developed efficiently and in a cost-effective way.

Meanwhile, Exxon’s country manager, Rod Henson noted that more evaluations were necessary before their resource numbers are updated. At the same time, Henson was upbeat about the discovery in Tripletail.
“This is more good news for Guyana. We would have to do some more research work before we update any resource numbers. (But) this is good news for Guyana. We’re very pleased to be working here. Before you drill the first well, you never know. You have to drill, which is indicated by a couple of the unsuccessful wells,” Henson said on the sidelines of an event on Monday.
Previously, Exxon had made its 13th oil discovery at the Yellowtail well in April of this year. Monday’s announcement means that there is now well in excess of six billion oil equivalent barrels of oil in Stabroek.

Tullow
On the same day that ExxonMobil announced an oil find, Tullow also revealed that it has made its second oil find in just a matter of weeks; this time the British company is celebrating the discovery of 14 metres of oil reservoirs.
According to the oil company in a statement, the well was drilled by the Stena Forth drillship. The company revealed that evaluations of the logging and sampling data confirmed that the well had 14 metres of net oil potential.
According to Tullow, it will now evaluate data from this and its recent discovery in Jethro well, as well as wait for the results from its Carapa well to determine the way forward. The Carapa well, which is on the Kanuku licence, will be drilled later in the month.
In the release, Tullow’s Exploration Director, Angus McCoss noted that the discovery increased the potential in the Orinduik Block. He also alluded to the block having multibillion-barrel potential.
The fact that two oil finds were announced on the same day was a prevailing topic at a seminar on Monday for capacity building in the oil sector. At the event, Department of Energy Head, Dr Mark Bynoe noted the importance of Tullow’s and Exxon’s discoveries.
The energy czar also assured that his department is working to build its capacity. Dr Bynoe warned, however, that there was still a long road ahead before actual production begins in the most recent finds.
“The average rate from discovery to appraisal to development to production is between four to five years. So again, it’s important that we temper expectations. Because it’s not as soon as you discover, you move to production.
“These wells will now have to be appraised, in terms of their commerciality, expected projected resource flow, then developed, before you move into production… we now have to do further tests to determine potential; barrel equivalency before we make that projection,” Dr Bynoe added.
Tullow Guyana BV is the operator of the Orinduik Block, with a 60 per cent stake. Total E&P Guyana BV holds 25 per cent with the remaining 15 per cent being held by Eco (Atlantic) Guyana Inc.
It was announced in July that Qatar’s State oil company is looking to enter into Guyana’s oil market with a farm-in deal through Total that could see them obtaining stakes in both the Orinduik and Kanuku Blocks.