Drilling operations on ExxonMobil’s Skipjack prospect, the company’s third well in the Stabroek Block offshore Guyana, have yielded disappointing results even as the United States oil giant continues to work towards commercial pumping from its Liza well in another four years.
“I can confirm that the Skipjack well drilled on the Stabroek Block did not find commercial quantities of hydrocarbons,” ExxobMobil’s Public and Government Affairs Manager Kimberly Brasington told Stabroek News yesterday.
She informed that the Stena Carron drillship, which was used in the Skipjack exploration, will now move back to Liza to drill the Liza-3 appraisal well as scheduled and that additional wells are planned for next year.
“Skipjack was one of several prospects on the Stabroek Block and additional wells are planned in 2017. We remain committed to evaluating the significant exploration potential on the Stabroek Block and to further appraisal activities at the world-class Liza discovery,” Brasington noted.
On Wednesday, international oil and gas newspaper Upstream reported on the company’s failure to achieve similar results as it did from the Liza find. “ExxonMobil failed to hit commercial hydrocarbons at the Skipjack exploration well offshore Guyana, where the supermajor was targeting similar conditions to its massive Liza oil find. The US supermajor confirmed reports from Upstream sources that Skipjack, which was spud on 17 July, was a dry hole,” the report said.
“We were informed by Exxon and GGMC on August 29 that the ‘Skip Jack’ well proved not to have commercial quantities of hydrocarbons,” Minister of Natural Resources Raphael Trotman stated in response to questions from Stabroek News.
Trotman said that his ministry is awaiting a full report and will provide information when it is completed. “We are continuing to have verification work done and [are] awaiting a full report and more information will be provided then,” he said.
The minister reminded of the unpredictable scope of mining and oil exploration, while saying that ExxonMobil will forge ahead with plans for Liza’s estimated 1 billion barrels while looking for other possible targets.
“This announcement reminded us of the undulating fortunes of mining in general and of oil exploration in particular. The company will continue with plans to develop the Liza well with its declared capacity of approx 1bln barrels and also look for other possible targets for drilling. Likewise, the government continues its preparations for the eventual production of oil and gas in the near future by building capacity at the legislative, technical and regulatory levels,” the minister added.
Upstream said that the company confirmed the dry well but did not detail if there was any hydrocarbon showing during its drilling.
It said that comments previously made by executives at ExxonMobil’s partner Hess was that the Stabroek block contained potentially more than 20 structures with similar attributes as Liza and that currently the Stena Carron drillship is on location at the Liza-3 appraisal well after completing drilling Skipjack, 40 kilometers to the north-west of Liza.
ExxonMobil spud Liza-3 on September 4 and, like its predecessor Liza 2, the well will focus on testing the flank of the Liza structure to determine the aerial extent of the reservoir.
Late last month, the company’s Country Manager Jeff Simons and other officials gave the media an update of its Liza offshore venture but when asked about Skipjack, Simons said that would be dealt with subsequently.
Meanwhile, ExxonMobil’s local head explained that the offshore oil wells are named by the geologist that makes the discovery and the person that choose both Liza and Skipjack gave them names of Guyana’s fish. “These are fish species that are apparently indigenous to Guyana. Skipjack is a tuna so you only see those well offshore and Liza is a little fish…,” Simons noted.
Brasington further explained: “The trivia behind that is that ExxonMobil has a history that geologists who develop the prospects get to name the field and so it was somebody going over the data and found it and named it and said ‘Oh fishes, I want to name it after fishes in Guyana. This was years and years ago before we were here and he got to name it…. ”
