Georgetown: The successes of US oil giant Exxon Mobil in oil exploration here in Guyana has positioned the country to possibly surpass oil production in Mexico and Venezuela.
Online oil and gas publication OilNow today reported oil and gas analyst Wood Mackenzie predicting that Guyana could exceed the two oil-producing nations, putting the country on the path to becoming a Latin American powerhouse.
According to Oil Now, the Liza complex is now on track to produce a million barrels per day and, compares to Brazil’s Lula-Iracema, one of the world’s largest deep-water finds, said Luiz Hayum, a research analyst with Wood Mackenzie’s Latin America upstream oil and gas team.
ExxonMobil holds 45 percent interest in the 6.6-million-acre Stabroek Block, while Hess holds 30 percent interest and CNOOC Nexen holds 25 percent interest.
“With 17 prospects still to drill, Stabroek is writing Guyana’s future. It will easily become the fourth largest oil producing nation in Latin America by the next decade, with chances to outperform the countries preceding it. If Venezuela and Mexico fail to address production declines, Guyana could quickly surpass them to number two,” Hayum is quoted as saying.
Noting ExxonMobil and its partners’ success rate at the Stabroek Block, Hayum said: “The giant, low breakeven discoveries are key to the partners. At peak, the project accounts for a third of Hess’ future production. For ExxonMobil, Guyana strengthens its growing deepwater portfolio, while for CNOOC it addresses efforts to offset domestic declines.”
On Monday, ExxonMobil announced its 10th discovery offshore Guyana, increasing its estimate of the discovered recoverable resource for the Stabroek Block to more than five billion oil-equivalent barrels.
Director, Department of Energy, Dr. Mark Bynoe in a release said: “This is great news for Guyana…the country is on the cusp of transformational development for current and future generations and the news of ExxonMobil’s 10th discovery offshore Guyana is expected to facilitate the country’s realisation of substantial social and economic improvements.”
The Pluma-1 well encountered approximately 121 feet (37 meters) of high-quality hydrocarbon-bearing sandstone reservoir. Pluma-1 reached a depth of 16,447 feet (5,013 meters) in 3,340 feet (1,018 meters) of water. The Noble Tom Madden drillship began drilling on Nov. 1.
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