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LatAmOil VENEZUEL A LatAmOil

However, opposition lawmaker María Gabriela testing shows that it’s “very likely” from Vene-
Hernández said last week that she suspected the zuela, according to local reports.
slick came from the 146,000 barrel per day (bpd) The Venezuelan government has refuted
El Palito oil refinery. Hernández, who leads the that claim, however. So far, the origin of the spill
National Assembly’s environment commission, remains unknown.
mentioned reports that oxidation ponds had Most of Venezuela’s crude oil exports go to
overflowed in the wake of heavy storms earlier Asia, following a route that takes ships close to
this month. She also asked that the national oil the section of Brazil’s coastline that has been
company (NOC) PdVSA and other state-con- affected by the spills. ™
trolled entities grant lawmakers access to main-
tenance records from the refinery.
As of press time, Caracas had not granted
that request. The National Assembly is led by
opposition parties and is not under the con-
trol of Maduro’s government. The presidential
administration does not recognise its authority.
This is not the first incident involving
spilled Venezuelan crude oil this year. In Janu-
ary, a series of new slicks were spotted in Bra-
zil’s north-eastern state of Ceará, around two
months after the region was hit by another major
oil slick. Brazilian environmental authorities
say the oil is not from domestic sources and that Oil from previous spills has hit Brazil’s coast (Photo: Petrobras)

GUYANA
ExxonMobil preparing to spud

Tanager-1 well at Kaieteur block

EXXONMOBIL (US) and its partners will soon during a 3D seismic survey campaign, puts these
spud the Tanager-1 exploration well drilling at fields’ unrisked gross prospective oil reserves at
Kaieteur, a block located offshore Guyana. 2.1bn barrels, with aggregate estimates ranging
According to a statement from Ratio Petro- from a low of 694mn barrels to 5.85bn barrels.
leum (Israel), one of the shareholders in the
block, the group is ready to begin exploration
drilling, as the Stena Carron drillship has arrived
at the site. The drillship is preparing to begin
work on Tanager-1 and will need about 90 days
to finish the well, it said.
The drilling site lies in 8,000-metre-deep
water. It is in the southern section of the Kaie-
teur block, about 250 km from the coast, and is
part of the same geological basin as Stabroek,
another block operated by ExxonMobil offshore
Guyana. The US-based giant brought Liza, the
first field targeted for development within the
block, on stream last December.
Netherland, Sewell & Associates Inc. (NSAI)
has estimated the unrisked gross prospective oil
reserves of the Tanager field at 256.2mn barrels.
In a report submitted in May 2019, NSAI said
the field was likely to contain between 135.6mn
barrels and 452.6mn barrels of crude. It also put
the aggregate probability of geological success at
around 72%.
ExxonMobil has identified nine separate
prospects in the southern part of Kaieteur, which
covers an area of 13,535 square km. NSAI’s
report, which was based on data collected Kaieteur lies about 250 km offshore (Image: Ratio Petroleum)

Week 33 19•August•2020 www. NEWSBASE .com P13