Exxon Makes Another Major Oil Discovery Offshore Guyana

ExxonMobil and its partner Hess Corporation have made another significant crude oil discovery offshore Guyana, the U.S. supermajor said on Wednesday.

The Whiptail discovery in the Stabroek Block adds to more than a dozen discoveries on the block and the previous recoverable resource estimate of approximately 9 billion oil-equivalent barrels.

Whiptail, located southeast of Uaru and west of Yellowtail discoveries, could form the basis of another future development in the Stabroek Block, Exxon and Hess said.

“Whiptail is a significant new oil discovery that will add to the discovered recoverable resource estimate of approximately 9 billion barrels of oil equivalent and could underpin a future oil development in the southeast area of the Stabroek Block,” Hess Corporation’s CEO John Hess said in a statement.

ExxonMobil and Hess believe offshore Guyana could allow for at least six projects online by 2027 and see the potential for up to 10 projects to develop the current recoverable resource base in the waters of the South American country.

In less than five years, Exxon and its partners in the Stabroek Block made more than a dozen quality discoveries on the block, making Guyana the newest oil-producing nation in December 2019.    

The Liza Phase 1 offshore project—Guyana’s first oil-producing project led by ExxonMobil—has reached its full planned production capacity of some 130,000 barrels per day (bpd), Guyana’s President Irfaan Ali said earlier this year. Liza Phase 1 currently produces 120,000 bpd, Exxon said today.

The Liza Phase 2 Project is designed to pump up to 220,000 bpd with a floating, production, storage, and offloading vessel (FPSO), and remains on target for early 2022, Exxon says.

Guyana is one of the top priorities in the U.S. supermajor’s strategy to focus on high-return and cash-generating projects that would allow it to grow its dividend through 2025.