Updated 1 Aug 2019 07:56 GMTToday1 Aug 2019 10:26
ExxonMobil and its partners in the prolific Stabroek block off Guyana have increased estimated recoverable resources on the tract to more than 6 billion barrels of oil equivalent, write Eoin O'Cinneide and Kathrine Schmidt.
The increase comes after the trio of partners came up trumps at two appraisals on the earlier Hammerhead discovery on the block.
Stabroek resources boosted to 6 billion boe
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“As a result of this year’s discoveries, and further evaluation of previous discoveries, we have increased the estimate of gross discovered recoverable resources for the Stabroek block to more than 6 billion barrels of oil equivalent, up from the previous estimate of more than 5.5 barrels of oil equivalent,” John Hess, chief executive of Stabroek partner Hess, told investors on a conference call.
The company said the Hammerhead-2 and Hammerhead-3 appraisal wells, located approximately 1.5 kilometres and three kilometres respectively from the Hammerhead-1 discovery well, were both successfully drilled and encountered high-quality, oil-bearing sandstone reservoirs.
A drillstem test completed at Hammerhead-3 in July "showed very good mobility and finally very good connectivity,” chief operating officer Greg Hill said on the call.
“The connectivity is actually between all three wells, all three wells are in pressure communication. So that bodes well for a development.”
The partnership has not yet divulged any new specifics on its development projections for the block, where it previously announced potential for at least five floating production, storage and offloading vessels producing more than 750,000 barrels per day of oil gross by 2025.
“We’re rolling all the results into the development plan studies for the area,” Hill said.
The figure of more than 6 billion boe recoverable also incorporates the Yellowtail-1 discovery, the fifth find in the Turbot area, which "underpins another potential major development hub", Hess said. “We do have a lot of volume now underpinned really between the Liza complex and the Turbot complex,” Hill said. “Obviously it’s going to be a multi-FPSO type of situation in the amount of the volume we found.”
Accordingly, the partnership aims to push forward on more exploration this year along the south-east of the block between Turbot and Liza, Hill said, with three or potentially four wells planned.
The Tripletail exploration well is set to spud in August using the drillship Noble Tom Madden. Results are expected in October.
The Noble Tom Madden and drillship Noble Bob Douglas are each currently carrying out development drilling on Liza-1, the first phase of development on the block.
The drillship Stena Carron is drilling a second well at the Ranger discovery. While the first well targeted the leeward side of the carbonate reef, the second appraisal will target the windward side, Hill said.
“We expect higher porosity because that was the portion of reef that was subjected to wave actio
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