Georgetown: United States-based oil company ExxonMobil has found itself one step closer to discovering oil in its Stabroek off-shore block, as it has encountered Hydrocarbons.
The US Geological Survey said in 2000 that the Guyana-Suriname Basin has the second largest unexplored oil potential in the world after Greenland. Guyana first struck oil in the 1980s in the Takutu Basin, and there is much optimism that oil will be found in commercial quantities.
ExxonMobil has joined other investors such as CGX Energy, Repsol, Anadarko Guyana Co, and Gas and Nabi Oil and Gas in exploring oil in Guyana’s offshore Atlantic basin.
Natural Resources and Environment Minister Robert Persaud has announced that the Esso exploration well, the Liza-1 on the Stabroek Block, using the drillship, Deepwater Champion has discovered the organic compound.
The exploration company is however expected to carry out a full evaluation of the results before it could confirm whether there are commercial quantities of hydrocarbons, specifically light crude. If the discovery of commercial quantities is made, then there could be a transformation of Guyana’s economy.
Crude oil is a mixture of substances which are mostly hydrocarbons. A hydrocarbon is a compound containing hydrogen and carbon only.
The oil company has made this headway amid the political mayhem between Guyana and Venezuela, where the latter remains adamant that the area where the US company is drilling is within its territory.
In early March, the oil and gas company, one of the largest in the world, was warned by the Spanish-speaking country to refrain from going ahead with its planned exploratory drilling activity, on a concession awarded by Guyana.
The multibillion-dollar project, however, got underway early last month.
Venezuela has repeatedly laid claim to the area being explored, ignoring an 1899 Arbitral Tribunal Award, which was declared as the full and final settlement of the boundary between the two South American nations. With Venezuela’s obdurate insistence on its position, Guyana is considering judicial settlement of the boundary.
Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited; an affiliate of ExxonMobil, holds 45 percent interest. Hess Guyana Exploration Limited holds 30 per cent interest and CNOOC Nexen Petroleum Guyana Limited holds 25 per cent interest.
The project is expected to be executed over a 10-year period and has been divided into three sections including two phases in each section which lasts for one to two years. The scope of operations include a drillship with approximately 200 crew and contractors; helicopter support, with two from Ogle, including a utility and a Search and Rescue at all times; four support vessels and two shore bases, running from Georgetown and Trinidad, and a waste treatment facility at the John Fernandes Site at Houston, Greater Georgetown. The total area allotted to Exxon covers 26,806 square kilometers. The company also has a target depth of 1750 metres.
Guyana has been receiving sustained international attention from huge companies, especially in the oil sector.
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