ExxonMobil, Petronas strike oil offshore Suriname in 15,000 ft well

…find adds to “high value” discoveries offshore Guyana – executive

ExxonMobil’s affiliate and its partner, Petronas, have announced that they have struck oil offshore Suriname in a 15,682-foot well, a find that could very well be a consolation for the oil giant after its recent setback at the Tanager well.
According to the company, oil was found at the Sloanea-1 exploration well, located on Block 52 offshore the Dutch-speaking country a few days ago. The well was drilled by the block operator, Petronas, using the Maersk Developer rig. According to Exxon’s Senior Vice President of Exploration and New Ventures, Michael Cousins, the find builds on their other successful finds in Guyana.

“Our first discovery in Suriname extends ExxonMobil’s leading position in South America, building on our successful investments in Guyana. We will continue to leverage our deepwater expertise and advanced technology to explore frontier environments with the highest value resource potential,” Cousins said.
ExxonMobil had said in November that it is prioritising near-term capital spending on advantaged assets with the highest potential future value. It, therefore, means that the wells Exxon is currently drilling, including those in Guyana and Suriname, are the “crown jewels” in Exxon’s portfolio that experts have long speculated they are.
Block 52 covers an area of 1.2 million acres (4749 square kilometres) and is located approximately 75 miles offshore, north of Suriname’s capital city, Paramaribo. The water depths on Block 52 usually range from 160 to 3600 feet (50 to 1100 metres).
Exxon’s affiliate, ExxonMobil Exploration and Production Suriname BV, holds a 50 per cent interest in Block 52. Petronas Suriname E&P BV, a subsidiary of Petronas, is the operator and holds 50 per cent interest.
Last month, the much-anticipated Tanager-1 well that many expected would have led to an oil discovery, was found to contain oil that was not commercially viable. Tanager-1, drilled by the Stena Carron is the deepest well ExxonMobil has so far drilled offshore Guyana, with a total depth of 8000 metres.
Last year, Exxon made five discoveries offshore Guyana. Discoveries were made in the Tilapia-1 well, Haimara-1, Yellowtail-1, Tripletail-1 and Mako-1 wells. These discoveries had pushed the total estimated recoverable barrels of oil equivalent to over six billion.
The company also discovered oil in the Uaru-1 well back in January 2020. Uaru was ExxonMobil’s 16th oil discovery in the Stabroek Block. The Uaru-1 well was drilled in a new reservoir, encountering approximately 94 feet (29 metres) of high-quality oil-bearing sandstone reservoir and was drilled in 6342 feet (1933 metres) of water.
In July of 2020, ExxonMobil’s partner in the Stabroek Block, Hess Corporation had revealed that two high-quality reservoirs offshore Guyana were found in 2020 around the time the company was appraising the Yellowtail-2 well.
So far, the Liza-1 well has accounted for all of Guyana’s oil production. Guyana only began producing oil last year in the Stabroek Block, lifting its first million barrels of profit oil from the Liza-1 well in February 2020.
The Bank of Guyana’s half-year report, which covers the period up to the end of June 2020, had previously revealed that Guyana produced over 10 million barrels of oil during the first half of 2020.