Demerara Waves Online News- Guyana Riding on the Crest of Truth
Last Updated on Wednesday, 25 January 2023, 17:24 by Denis Chabrol
Hess, the 30 percent joint venture partner in the Stabroek Block, on Wednesday announced that there has been a “significant new oil discovery” at Fangtooth SE-1, one year after the original Fangtooth-1 discovery.
The company said the Fangtooth SE-1 well encountered approximately 200 feet of oil bearing sandstone reservoirs, adding to the Stabroek Block’s gross discovered recoverable resource estimate of more than 11 billion barrels of oil equivalent. The company said the recent discovery “has the potential to underpin a future oil development.”
Sources said government would have to await a resource assessment and validation by the operator, ExxonMobil, and then government would verify that with an independent third party before the announcement is made. “The Ministry has noted the information and we are currently working with Exxon who is completing the analysis so as to make the information available,” the Ministry of Natural Resources said in an invited comment.
In January, 2022 ExxonMobil, which is the operator in the Stabroek Block, had said that the Fangtooth-1 well encountered approximately 40 metres of high-quality oil-bearing sandstone reservoirs.
The United States-based company said it would continue an active exploration and appraisal program in Guyana with approximately 10 wells planned for the Stabroek Block in 2023
Hess also said the development plan for Uaru, the fifth development on the Stabroek Block, was submitted to the Guyana government for approval in the fourth quarter of 2022. According to the American company, Uaru is expected to have a capacity of approximately 250,000 gross barrels of oil per day with first oil anticipated at the end of 2026.
The ExxonMobil subsidiary, Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL), and its coventurers Hess and China National Overseas Oil Company, plan to start production in the Payara Field in late 2023 or early 2024 to add 220,00 barrels per day.