Together with its partner Hess Corp, ExxonMobil has announced its 13th significant hydrocarbon discovery offshore of Guyana.
The new Yellowstone-1 well is the fifth to be discovered in the greater Turbot area on the Stabroek Block. The Noble Tom Madden drillship started work on the well on March 27. It drilled it in 6,046 feet of water to a depth of 18,445 feet, encountering 292 feet of oil-bearing sandstone reservoir.
ExxonMobil and Hess have already revised the estimated reserves offshore of Guyana from four billion barrels of oil-equivalent (Bboe) to about 5.5. billion Bboe. The new discovery will only add further to this.
Guyana is the largest growth area outside of the US Permian Basin for ExxonMobil, which in addition to producing oil also makes refined products like the Mobil Vactra 2 slideway oil. A senior vice president of Exxon Mobil Exploration and New Ventures, Mike Cousins, said that the strength of the company’s Guyanese operations can be put down to excellent upstream capabilities, strong partnerships and a commitment to expanding the offshore potential of the South American country.
The Noble Tom Madden will now move on to drilling the Hammerhead-2 well in the same Turbot region. The Stena Carron drillship, meanwhile, will attend to the Hammerhead-3 well.
ExxonMobil intends to be producing some 750,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil on the Stabroek Block by 2025 through five FPSO (floating, production, storage and offloading) vessels by 2025. The first phase of development is expected to come online early next year.
