(Adds new shipment details)
Jan 27 (Reuters) - Exxon Mobil Corp on Monday raised
its Guyana oil estimates by 2 billion barrels with disclosure of
a new discovery, as it continues to develop one of the world's
most important new oil and gas blocks in the last decade.
The new find continues an Exxon-led consortium's long string
of discoveries in Latin America's newest crude producing nation
and underscores the importance of Guyana to Exxon for increasing
its future oil output.
Exxon and partners Hess Corp and China's CNOOC
started production at the Stabroek block ahead of
schedule in December. The latest discovery, the 16th by the
group, brings total recoverable oil and gas resources to more
than 8 billion barrels.
Recoverable oil is accessible by existing drilling
technologies and is profitable to pump at current prices. The
new discovery would be added to official resource estimates at a
later date, Exxon said.
Following Guyana's first-ever oil export earlier this month,
another vessel - the Suezmax tanker Eagle San Antonio - is
scheduled to approach Exxon's offshore producing vessel in
coming days for loading the second cargo of Liza light sweet
crude for exports, according to Refinitiv Eikon data.
The Yannis P, carrying Guyana's first crude cargo, is
underway to the U.S. Gulf Coast, where Exxon plans to discharge
the vessel into its refining network. The shipment marked the
tiny South American nation's long-awaited debut as an oil
exporter.
Production from the Liza Phase 1 development is currently
ramping up and it will produce up to 120,000 barrels of oil per
day in the coming months, the company said.
While Exxon plans to refine Liza crude itself in the short
term, Guyana's government recently awarded Royal Dutch Shell
a tender for its first three cargoes and it plans to
launch next month a competitive process to choose a marketing
agent to trade and export its share of production.
Exxon is scheduled to report fourth-quarter earnings later
this week on Jan. 31.
(Reporting by Shariq Khan and Shanti S. Nair in Bengaluru,
additional reporting by Marianna Parraga in Mexico City; Editing
by Marguerita Choy and Vinay Dwivedi)
