DPI, GUYANA, Friday, April 27, 2018
ExxonMobil is still optimistic about their prospects for finding more oil in Guyana’s waters even though the most recent well did not turn up commercial quantities.
“ExxonMobil announced today that we have not found hydrocarbon in the Sorubim well. So, what that means, we call it a dry hole,” ExxonMobil’s Government and Public Affairs Senior Director Kimberly Brasington told the Department of Public Information today.
Senior Director, Government and Public Affairs, ExxonMobil Kimberly Brasington.
Dry wells, that is wells that turn up no hydrocarbons, are not uncommon in the oil and gas industry. In fact, industry standard success rate is one in five when drilling for oil and gas in deep water offshore operations. The first dry well ‘SkipJack’ was encountered in September 2016
For a frontier country, Guyana has beaten the industry’s odds according to Brasington noted. “While we’ve had really great success to date we’ve beaten the industry standard and the rate of success in the past two years,” she said.
Brasington noted that the well was the first “play type” of its kind in the Stabroek Block, where seven successful discoveries have been made previously.
Sorubim was drilled by the Nobel Bob Douglas, which arrived in Guyana recently, to drill the 17 wells for the Liza Development.
“The Bob Douglas will finish this well in the next few days and then it will move on to start development drilling,” Brasington said. The Stena Caron is currently drilling Liza Five for information purposes Brasington added. The Stena Caron will continue exploration drilling for ExxonMobil.
At today’s post-Cabinet press briefing, Minister of State Joseph Harmon noted the arrival of the Nobel Bob Douglas signals the escalation of developments in the industry for first oil in 2020.