ExxonMobil discovers oil offshore Guyana at Mako-1 well
ExxonMobil has announced it made an oil discovery offshore Guyana at the Mako-1 well southeast of the Liza field, marking the 15th discovery on the Stabroek Block. The discovery adds to the previously announced estimated recoverable resource of more than 6 billion BOE on the Stabroek Block.
Mako-1 encountered approximately 50 m of a high-quality oil bearing sandstone reservoir. Mako-1, drilled in 1,620 m of water, is located approximately 10 km southeast of the Liza field, which began producing oil in December 2019.
“New discoveries in this world-class basin have the potential to support additional developments,” Mike Cousins, Senior Vice President of Exploration and New Ventures at ExxonMobil, said. “Our proprietary full-wave seismic inversion technology continues to help us better define our discovered resource and move rapidly to the development phase.”
The Liza Phase 1 development achieved first oil on 20 December 2019 and will produce up to 120,000 barrels of oil per day (bbl/d) utilizing the Liza Destiny floating production storage and offloading vessel (FPSO).
The Liza Unity FPSO, which will be employed for the second phase of Liza development and will have a production capacity of 220,000 bbl/d, is under construction and expected to start production by mid-2022.
Pending government approvals and project sanctioning of a third development, production from the Payara field north of the Liza discoveries could start as early as 2023, reaching an estimated 220,000 bbl/d.
Drilling activities in Guyana continue with four drillships to further explore and appraise new resources, as well as to develop the resources within approved projects.
The Stabroek Block is 26,800 sq km. ExxonMobil affiliate Esso Exploration and Production Guyana is operator and holds 45% interest in the Stabroek Block. Hess Guyana Exploration holds 30% interest and CNOOC Petroleum Guyana, a wholly-owned subsidiary of CNOOC, holds 25% interest.
