Guyana among South American nations to discover 3B barrels of oil for 2020

– 3 of 5 FPSO projects approved globally in Guyana, Brazil

Guyana is in good company in successful oil exploration. It, along with Suriname and Brazil, appears to have discovered three billion barrels of oil equivalent (BoE) for 2020.
This is according to Norwegian energy consultant Rystad Energy, who looked at three South American countries and their oil discoveries last year. In his newsletters, the consultant noted that these countries, at a time of market turmoil, are leading the way.
“Between continued exploration success within the Guyana-Suriname basin, increasing M&A activity in the offshore space in Brazil and producing records out of the Vaca Muerta in Argentina, the Latin American region continues to demonstrate its importance in the world energy mix global, ”said Rystad Energy.
“South America held the momentum of 2019 through last year’s market turbulence and reached the global position for exploration success for the second year running. The region distributed more than three billion barrels of oil equivalents found in Guyana, Suriname, and Brazil during the year. ”
According to Rystad, the region also led sanctioning activity in 2020, that is to approve large-scale oil developments. Rystad noted that the region contributed about 30 percent of total approved investments as projects in Brazil and Guyana were green-lit.
In fact, it was highlighted that three of the five globally approved Production, Storage and Unloading (FPSO) production projects are in South America, reinforcing the region’s emergence as an FPSO hub.
Rystad Energy then referred to Esso Exploration and Production, Guyana Limited’s US $ 9 billion Payara project, which received government approval last year, and the Pacora project.
Last year, Exxon made discoveries through the Redtail-1 and the Uaru-1 wells. The Redtail-1 discovery was announced on September 8, 2020, with Guyana’s Minister of Natural Resources, Vickram Bharrat, in a statement, speaking about the significance of the discovery and Exxon’s pursuit of high-quality reservoirs.
“The Guyana Government welcomes the discovery of Redtail and remains committed to developing Guyana’s oil and gas resources… ExxonMobil’s exploration program continues to identify high quality reservoirs close to previous discoveries. This will play an integral part in our long-term growth plans which will bring significant value to Guyana’s development, ”he said.
“This finding comes from our country’s budget for the year 2020 and complements the many progressive measures announced by Dr Irfaan Ali, President of Guyana and Vice President, Dr Bharrat Jagdeo. I can assure you that the Government will do everything possible to ensure that benefits from this and other sectors improve the lives of all our people, ”he added.
The company discovered oil through the Uaru-1 long ago in January 2020. Uaru was ExxonMobil’s 16th oil discovery in the Stabroek Block. The Uaru-1 well was drilled in a new reservoir, encountered approximately 29 meters (94 feet) of high-quality oil-bearing sandstone reservoir and drilled in 1933 meters (6342 feet) of water.
In 2019, Exxon made five discoveries offshore Guyana, through the wells Tilapia-1, Haimara-1, Yellowtail-1, Tripletail-1 and Mako-1. These discoveries pushed the estimated total recoverable BoE to over six billion.
It was previously revealed in February this year that the Guyana Natural Resources Fund currently has over US $ 200 million earned in oil revenue, with the most recent payment being made in January this year.
Vice President Jagdeo made this disclosure during a press conference. He explained that there is currently US $ 206.6 million (G $ 43.1 billion) in the NRF, including the latest US $ 8.3 million royalty payment, which was received in January.