ExxonMobil Declares Liza Find Commercial
Thursday 17 November 2016
First discovery offshore Guyana thought to hold more than 1 billion barrels of recoverable oil
ExxonMobil has declared its Liza oil discovery offshore Guyana to be a commercial find, the first in the 50-year history of the South American nation.
The US supermajor, along with partners Hess and CNOOC subsidiary Nexen, made the declaration via letter as required by Section 31 of Guyana's petroleum law, the Guyana Natural Resources Ministry said.
"This is a profound and watershed moment in the development of our country... so there is great humility and great responsibility that comes with the handing over and receiving of this letter," Natural Resources Minister Raphael Trotman said.
Trotman told the partners that the government of Prime Minister David Granger was excited to see the eventual development plan for the field, ahead of a potential final investment decision next year.
That plan "tells us that all the partners in this project are committed, and that the investment decision will be a positive one next year, and that we could move to production in the earliest possible time," he said.
ExxonMobil vice president Erik Oswald called the declaration an early step on the way to developing the Liza find, which is estimated to hold somewhere between 1 billion and 1.4 billion barrels of recoverable oil.
"What you are seeing today, is the beginning of a very large effort which will unfold over the next few years as we finalise our plans, and implement them, trying to develop this field," Oswald said.
Liza is believed to be the largest oil find of 2015, when it was estimated to hold 800 million to 1.4 billion barrels of oil. Subsequent appraisal drilling has caused the partners to boost their estimates towards the upper end of the range.
"It has given us confidence in terms of areal extent, the reservoir quality and thus our communication that we believe we're in excess of 1 billion barrels now," ExxonMobil secretary Jeff Woodbury told investors on the company's third quarter conference call.
Current plans call for ExxonMobil to bring Liza into development via a 100,000-barrel per day floating production, storage and offloading unit beginning in 2020.
The partners do not plan further exploration drilling on Liza at this point, Woodbury said, and the 2017 drilling campaign will focus on exploration work.
The Stena Carron drillship recently spud the Payara exploration well, the third prospect on the Stabroek block.