Another Guyana find for Exxon Mobil, Hess
Exxon Mobil and Hess Corp. said Thursday that they’ve made their ninth oil discovery in the developing offshore fields of Guyana as Exxon Mobil continues to bank a chunk of its future in northeastern South America.
The find at the new Hammerhead-1 well represents another expansion of the emerging oil development off the Latin American country, which is immediately east of Venezuela, where political and economic instability have led to declining crude production there.
“The Hammerhead-1 discovery reinforces the potential of the Guyana basin,” said Steve Greenlee, Exxon Mobil's exploration president.
With its global oil and gas pro-
duction volumes falling and its stock taking a hit as a result, Exxon Mobil is accelerating its exploration and production efforts from Guyana to West Texas’ booming Permian Basin.
Exxon Mobil, headquartered in Irving, and Hess of New York said they hit oil at a well drilled nearly 14,000 feet at a water depth of almost 3,400 feet. Exxon Mobil estimates that it has discovered more than 4 billion barrels of recoverable oil equivalent in the region.
Exxon Mobil and Hess, which have partnered in the country, could have up to five floating production, storage and offloading vessels producing more than 750,000 barrels per day by 2025, the companies said.
A second drillship is due to arrive in Guyana in October to accelerate their exploration efforts.
The first development, called Liza Phase 1, is expected to begin producing oil by early 2020 and should churn out 120,000 barrels of oil a day. Construction of that first floating production vessel is already underway.