US oil company ExxonMobil has revealed that a new discovery has been made at the Pinktail well in the Stabroek block, offshore Guyana. In addition, an FPSO for Exxon’s second phase of the Liza development has begun its voyage from Singapore to Guyana.
The drillship Noble Sam Croft drilled the Pinktail well for ExxonMobil.
The Pinktail well encountered 220 feet (67 meters) of net pay in high-quality, hydrocarbon-bearing sandstone reservoirs, ExxonMobil said Thursday.
In addition to the successful appraisal of the Turbot discovery, the Turbot-2 well encountered 13 meters of net thickness in a newly identified high-quality sandstone reservoir separate from the 23 meters of high-quality oil-bearing sandstone thickness encountered in the original Turbot-1 discovery well.
This is in addition to the deeper reservoirs encountered in the previously announced Whiptail discovery, and these results will be incorporated into future developments.
“These discoveries are part of an extensive well program in the Stabroek block using six drillships to test play extensions and new concepts, evaluate existing discoveries and complete development wells for the Liza Phase 2 and Payara projects,” said Mike Cousins, ExxonMobil’s senior vice president of exploration and new business, ExxonMobil.
Separately, the floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel Liza Unity departed Singapore for Guyana in early September. The vessel was in Singapore for the topside integration phase, performed by Keppel. Keppel’s scope of work included the fabrication of various topside modules, the elevator balcony, spread-mooring and umbilical support structures, as well as the installation and integration of associated equipment and all topside modules into the FPSO.
The FPSO will be used for the development of Liza Phase 2 and is expected to commence production in early 2022, with a capacity to produce approximately 220,000 barrels of oil per day.
Keppel O&M has also commenced work on the third FPSO unit destined for Guyana, the FPSO Prosperity. The vessel’s hull recently arrived at Keppel O&M’s Singapore shipyard and work has begun on board.
ExxonMobil anticipates commissioning at least six projects by 2027 and sees potential for up to 10 projects to develop its existing discovered recoverable resource base. The FPSO vessel Liza Destiny currently produces about 120,000 barrels of oil per day.
The Pinktail discovery is located approximately 21.7 miles (35 kilometers) southeast of the Liza Phase 1 project, which began producing in December 2019, and 3.7 miles (6 kilometers) southeast of Yellowtail-1.
The Pinktail well was drilled in 5,938 feet (1,810 meters) of water by the Noble Sam Croft. The Turbot-2 discovery is approximately 37 miles (60 kilometers) southeast of the Liza phase one project, and 2.5 miles (4 kilometers) from the Turbot-1 discovery announced in October 2017. Turbot-2 was drilled in 5,790 feet (1,765 meters) of water by the Noble Sam Croft.
The Stabroek block is 6.6 million acres (26,800 square kilometers). ExxonMobil’s subsidiary, Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited, is the operator and has a 45% interest in the Stabroek block. Hess has a 30% interest and CNOOC Petroleum a 25% interest.
Hess CEO John Hess said, “We are pleased to announce our 20th significant discovery in the Stabroek block, which will add to the discovered recoverable resource estimate of over 9 billion barrels of oil equivalent.”
