Page 8 - LatAmOil Week 12 2023

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It further clarified that it had agreed to let Exx- available, it said.
onMobil and its partners self-insure against oil In any event, the EPA explained, even if
spills at the time when it issued a production the government were willing to entertain the
permit for Liza 1, the first oilfield to come on demand for “unlimited insurance” against oil
stream at Stabroek. This practice of self-insur- spills at Stabroek, insurers would be reluctant to
ance is not only in line with the 2016 Stabroek offer their services under those conditions. It is
Block agreement but also common in the oil and considered unreasonable and impractical in the
gas industry, it said. risk management business to provide coverage
Under this self-insurance policy, the inves- without being able to place an exact figure on
tors provided $600mn worth coverage for future potential claims, it said.
oil spills, the EPA noted. They also agreed to The agency said it was reviewing several
meet the same capping stack requirement later different options with the aim of providing the
included in the permit issued for Yellowtail, government of Guyana with the most effective
the fourth development project planned at coverage against oil spills.
Stabroek, making Guyana the only country in It did not identify the options that were
South America to have such equipment readily under consideration. ™

SURINAME
Hess CEO: New exploration well to

be spudded at Block 42 later this year

THE US independent Hess Corp. has said that TotalEnergies and APA have made there thus far
a new exploration well will be spudded at Block has different characteristics – that is, a different
42 offshore Suriname later this year. mix of crude oil and natural gas.
As of press time, the company had not iden- Overall, he said, Block 58 is likely to prove
tified the drilling site by name. But its CEO, John “more gassy.” TotalEnergies and APA are still
Hess, was quoted by OilNOW.gy as saying that trying to find enough crude oil to ensure that
his company had high hopes for Block 42, which development is commercially viable, he said.
lies directly north of the Block 58 licence area Despite the outstanding questions about
that Suriname has assigned to operator TotalEn- Block 58, Hess said his company remained opti-
ergies (France) and its partner APA (US). mistic about Block 42. The partners have a good
According to Hess, the experience gained understanding of the region’s geology, thanks
during exploration work at Block 58 indicates to Hess’ status as a minority shareholder in the
that Block 42 is likely to hold hydrocarbons. He Stabroek block offshore Guyana, where Exxon-
also stressed, though, that Block 58 was het- Mobil has discovered 11bn barrels of oil equiv-
erogeneous in nature, as each discovery that alent (boe) in recoverable reserves, he declared.

Block 42 lies directly to the north of Block 58, where multiple finds have been made (Image: Kosmos Energy)

P8 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 12 22•March•2023