Offshore Guyana Wildcat Spuds

Offshore Guyana Wildcat Spuds
A Stena drillship has begun drilling the Haimara-1 exploration well.

Exxon Mobil Corp. has begun drilling the Haimara-1 exploration well offshore Guyana, the first of two planned wildcat wells to be drilled this month in the waters off the South American country, the supermajor reported Monday.

Drilling Haimara-1 – located 19 miles (31 kilometers) east of the Pluma-1 discovery in the southeast Stabroek Block – is the Stena Carron drillship, ExxonMobil added.

“We continue to prioritize high-potential prospects in close proximity to previous discoveries in order to establish opportunities for material and efficient development,” Steve Greenlee, president of ExxonMobil Exploration Co., said in a written statement emailed to Rigzone.

ExxonMobil also noted that it expects the second wildcat, Tilapia-1, to be drilled by the Noble Tom Madden drillship. Tilapia-1, located in the growing Turbot area, is approximately 3 miles (5 kilometers) west of the Longtail-1 discovery, the company added.

“Like the Liza and Payara areas, the Turbot area is on its way to offering significant development options that will maximize value for Guyana and our partners,” Greenlee stated.

Also in the Stabroek Block, the Liza Phase 1 development has entered peak execution phase ahead of expected first oil early next year, ExxonMobil added. The company stated that the Noble Bob Douglas drillship continues to drill development wells and subsea equipment is being prepared for installation. In Singapore, the topside facilities modules are being installed on the Liza Destiny floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel, it also noted.

ExxonMobil also stated that preparations are underway for pipe-laying activities in the Liza field to start this spring. It anticipates that the Liza Destiny FPSO will sail from Singapore to reach offshore Guyana during the third quarter of 2019. Moreover, the company reported that plans to deploy a Petroleum Geo-Services (PGS)-operated seismic vessel to the Turbot area to acquire 4-D seismic data similar to a 2017 Liza campaign.

A second PGS vessel has been released after an incident involving Venezuela’s navy caused seismic acquisition activities to be suspended Dec. 22, ExxonMobil noted. The incident, which occurred in the northwest portion of the Stabroek block, has not affected drilling and development operations offshore Guyana, added the company. Bloomberg recently reported that offshore oil development in Guyana has stoked controversy – and even united political foes – in Venezuela.

ExxonMobil’s Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited serves as operator of Stabroek and holds a 45-percent interest in the block. Hess Guyana Exploration Ltd. and CNOOC Nexen Petroleum Guyana Limited hold 30-percent and 25-percent interests, respectively.

ExxonMobil and Hess have stated that Stabroek’s growing resource base – now estimated at more than 5 billion oil-equivalent barrels – could support at least five FPSOs producing more than 750,000 barrels of oil per day by 2025.



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