Page 9 - LatAmOil Week 01 2022

LatAmOil GUYANA LatAmOil

The vessel is currently in the process of being has submitted both documents and is awaiting
hooked up and commissioned, it noted. review from the relevant government authori-
On the other hand, it said, the Payara project ties and regulatory bodies.
is still slated to come on stream in 2024. The hull Equity in the Stabroek project is split between
of the Prosperity, the FPSO that will be used to ExxonMobil Guyana, the operator, with 45%;
support development at that field, has already Hess Guyana Exploration, with 30%; and China
been completed and the vessel’s topsides are now National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC), with
under construction, it stated. 25%. The partners brought Liza-1, their first
Meanwhile, it added, ExxonMobil Guyana development project, on stream in December
has drawn up the field development plan (FDP) 2019. They aim to launch Liza-2, the second
and the environmental impact assessment (EIA) development project, this year, followed by
for Yellowtail, its fourth development target. It Payara in 2024 and Yellowtail in 2025. ™

CGX confirms plan to continue

drilling Kawa-1 exploration well

CANADA’S CGX Energy has confirmed that it and to potential deep-lying discoveries in Guy-
will move ahead with drilling work at Kawa-1, ana’s offshore Stabroek block, the eastern end of
an exploration well at the Corentyne block off- which is directly north of Corentyne.
shore Guyana, despite reports that the initiative The partners had originally hoped to begin
was being wrapped up. drilling Kawa-1 in early 2020, just a few months
Daniel Turpin, a spokesman for the com- after PGS Geophysical (Norway) finished a 3D
pany, informed OilNOW.gy in late December seismic survey over a 582-square km section of
that CGX and its Canadian partner Frontera the northern part of Corentyne in November
Energy were proceeding with work at Kawa-1. 2019. However, PGS did not finish processing
He was responding to the news service’s report the new data until June 2020, and they did not
on a notice dated December 24 from Guy- spud the well until August of last year.
ana’s Maritime Administration Department Equity in the Corentyne project is divided
(MARAD), which said that the partners were between CGX, with 66.67%, and Frontera, with
winding down operations at the well site. 33.33%. Frontera is the majority shareholder in
“Contrary to your article ... drilling activities CGX. ™
continue on the Kawa-1 well,” Turpin stated.
“There are currently no demobilisation activi-
ties underway.”
He did not say when CGX and Frontera
expect to finish drilling the well. However,
MARAD published a new notice on Decem-
ber 31 stating that the companies expected to
continue working for more than a month. “This
operation is scheduled to conclude on February
5, 2022,” the department reported.
Frontera had said earlier in December that
the partners had already sunk Kawa-1 to about
90% of its planned depth and that the data
collected thus far suggested the presence of
an active hydrocarbon system. It also noted,
though, that work on Kawa-1 was taking longer
than anticipated and that the cost of drilling
the well was set to rise from $80mn to $115-
125mn as a result. The partners may have to seek
additional financing and are exploring several
opportunities, it said, without elaborating.
CGX and Frontera are drilling Kawa-1
at a site that is around 200 km from shore in
355-metre-deep water. They hope the well’s
target Santonian and Campanian layers will be
analogous to the finds made at Block 58 offshore
Suriname, located directly east of Corentyne, CGX is using the Maersk Discoverer to sink Kawa-1 (Photo: Maersk Drilling)

Week 01 06•January•2022 www. NEWSBASE .com P9