Exxon Mobil said Monday it made another discovery offshore of Guyana, increasing its potential resource base as first production looms in early 2020.
The new find made by Exxon and its New York partner Hess Corp. is the 14th discovery they’ve announced offshore of the small South American nation within just a few years. The new discovery is at the Tripletail-1 well in what’s known as the Turbot area.
“This discovery helps to further inform the development of the Turbot area,” said Mike Cousins, Exxon Mobil senior vice president of exploration and new ventures.
“Together with our partners, ExxonMobil is deploying industry-leading capabilities to identify projects that can be developed efficiently and in a cost-effective way.”
In other Guyana exploration, Exxon’s contracted drillships are currently drilling the Ranger-2 well and will soon conduct a well test at Yellowtail-1.
Another drillship is currently completing development drilling operations for the Liza Phase 1 project, which is expected to come online early next year.
The Liza Destiny is a floating, production, storage and offloading vessel, called an FPSO, that arrived in August following a 42-day journey from Singapore, where it was built. The 1,115-foot vessel will lead production from 17 wells during the first phase of development, called Liza Phase 1, starting in early 2020.
Exxon Mobil said it will add a fourth drillship to the region in October.
Adjacent to oil-rich nations like Brazil and the economically struggling Venezuela, Guyana is a small, nascent energy nation that’s gearing up for its own oil boom.
In May, Exxon authorized the $6 billion Liza Phase 2 project that’s expected to start up by mid-2022. A third development, Payara, should be approved soon.
Exxon Mobil now expects to produce more than 750,000 barrels of oil a day offshore of Guyana by 2025. That’s equal to nearly 20 percent of Exxon’s global oil and gas production today.
Exxon owns a leading 45 percent stake in the project with Hess controlling 30 percent. The remaining 25 percent is owned by the China National Offshore Oil Corp., known as CNOOC.
This article first appeared on the Houston Chronicle – an Energy Voice content partner. For more from the Houston Chronicle click here.