Fresh from its recent discovery of oil at the Payara well site, US firm ExxonMobil is preparing to begin drilling at a new site in the Stabroek Block offshore of Demerara.
In a notice in the last Sunday Stabroek, the Maritime Administration Department said that on February 15, 2017 Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited, an affiliate of ExxonMobil, will begin a drilling programme at the Snoek-1 Well site within the Stabroek Block. The drilling programme is scheduled for six months. The operation will utilize the following vessels: Stena Carron, MV Fast Hauler, MV Dante, MV Hannah Chouest and HOS Commander.
The drill site is approximately 101 nautical miles from the coast of Guyana and covers an area of two square miles.
On May 20, 2015, ExxonMobil announced a huge oil find in the Liza well in the Stabroek Block. Its drill ship encountered more than 295 feet (90 metres) of high-quality oil-bearing sandstone reservoirs. It was safely drilled to 17,825 feet (5,433 metres) in 5,719 feet (1,743 metres) of water.
Thereafter, ExxonMobil announced plans for other wells in the Stabroek Block confident that there were more deposits. Several appraisal wells have already been sunk to evaluate the Liza find.
In September last year, the company confirmed that drilling at its Skipjack prospect had come up dry. The company, however, found success with the Payara well and announced results similar to the Liza well in January this year. The drillship Stena Carron drilled the Payara-1 well roughly 10 miles (16 km) northwest of the Liza discovery, encountering more than 95 ft (29 m) of good-quality, oil-bearing sandstone reservoirs.
The Snoek exploration prospect is 6 miles (10 km) south of Liza-1.
