Gov’t hiring firm to conduct reservoir audit of Stabroek Block
-questions remain about current reserves figure
Government says it is in the process of hiring a firm to conduct a reservoir audit of the Stabroek Block fields, even as it currently counts 43 discoveries while the operator, ExxonMobil holds to not quantifying but is saying there have been more than 30.
Sources say that there is a dispute between government and the company over the number of discoveries, appraisals and production wells, and it is the reason for the company not publicly quantifying discoveries but giving ball park figures since 2022.
Last year October, government announced that the Lancetfish-2 appraisal well in the Stabroek Block had resulted in a significant discovery, marking four for that year, and that it had brought the total number of discoveries from 2015 to 46.
Last week, it said that the discovery wells figure is 43. Stabroek News reached out to Minister of Natural Resources, Vickram Bharrat, on the issue and he said that he would refer to his ministry’s team to get the responses. The ministry said that it is “unaware of any disagreement over discoveries,” but stated that there are currently 43. “However, we can confirm that in keeping with international best practices, the government is in the final stages of an international competitive process for the hiring of a qualified firm to conduct a reservoir audit of the fields and we expect this to be completed by third quarter 2024,” Ministry of Natural Resources Officer, Mikaila Prince, told this newspaper. The ministry also promised to keep this newspaper updated on developments
Pressed on the number of discoveries in its count, the Ministry of Natural Resources informed that it first had to consult with the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission. Shortly after, it reverted saying, “It’s 43 discoveries.”
Haggle
What is still unclear is how many wells are respectively being termed discovery, appraisal or production. Also, it is not known if any of the discovery or appraisal wells are being used as production wells.
However, sources told this newspaper that “there has been this haggle over the number of wells because there are agreements on discovery wells, appraisal wells and productions wells… the company gives one amount and government another and it is why ExxonMobil moved from stating the exact number of discoveries to now generalising on quantity.”
Discovery wells, like the name implies, are found during the exploration or wild cat well- drilling process when the hydrocarbon is discovered, while appraisal wells are those drilled following that discovery to delineate the wells. Production wells are those that the crude or gas is brought up from, once the producing structure and characteristics are determined.
ExxonMobil has also not publicly updated its recoverable resource amount for nearly two years and where it used to give exact discovery amounts following a new find, this is no longer done.
This newspaper reached out to ExxonMobil and asked about discoveries and updating of the resource recoverable amounts.
“ExxonMobil Guyana Limited has made more than 30 discoveries on the Stabroek block since 2015, with a recoverable resource estimate of nearly 11 billion oilequivalent barrels,” the company said through its local media advisor, Kwesi Isles.
Exxon also said that it provides quarterly updates to both the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission. “We provide quarterly updates to the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission on resource estimates and associated activities,” the company said.
On its website, the company has not publicly updated its recoverable amount total since April of 2022 when they gave the more than 11 billion barrels figure. The upped amounts came on the discoveries at Barreleye1, Patwa-1, and Lukanani-1 wells in southeast portion of the Stabroek Block.