Page 11 - LatAmOil Week 27 2021

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Additionally, they have attracted criticism from are the US independent company Hess and
environmental advocates, some of whom have state-owned China National Offshore Oil Corp.
complained that the environmental permit for (CNOOC).
the Liza-1 project is too lenient. The partners estimate that the block contains
EPA representatives dismissed that argu- more than 9bn barrels per oil equivalent (boe)
ment last week, asserting that the terms of the and have made 20 discoveries there so far. They
permit were actually stricter than international brought the Liza-1 field on stream in December
benchmarks. 2019 and are due to launch the next three devel-
ExxonMobil Guyana is the leader of the opment projects – Liza-2, Payara and Yellowtail
Stabroek project, and its non-operating partners – in 2022, 2024 and 2025 respectively. ™

ExxonMobil drills dry hole at Jabillo-1

EXXONMOBIL (US) has experienced a dis-
appointment at the Canje block offshore Guy-
ana, as it did not find commercial quantities of
hydrocarbons in the Jabillo-1 well.
According to a statement from Canada’s Eco
(Atlantic) Oil & Gas, an indirect shareholder
in the project, the exploration well was sunk
in a location that is about 265 km north-east of
Georgetown in 2,903-metre-deep water. It was
drilled to a total depth of 6,475 metres and was
able to test the designated target layers – namely,
Upper Cretaceous reservoirs in a stratigraphic
trap.
However, the statement said, Jabillo-1 “did
not show evidence of commercial hydrocar-
bons.” As such, it is now due to be plugged and
abandoned.
ExxonMobil and the other shareholders
in the Canje project are now pinning their
hopes on the next exploration drilling target –
Sapote-1, which lies in the eastern section of the
block. The partners expect to spud the new well
in mid-August, after the Stena DrillMAX drill-
ship finishes its current assignment at the neigh-
bouring Stabroek block, which is also operated
by ExxonMobil.
Sapote-1 will be drilled at a site that is about
100 km south-east of Jabillo-1. The site is also 50
km north of Haimara, a section of the Stabroek
block where ExxonMobil encountered about
63 metres of gas condensate-bearing sand-
stone reservoirs in an exploration well, and 60
km north-west of Maka Central, a section of Jabillo-1 is the second exploration well drilled at the Canje block (Image: JHI)
Block 58 offshore Suriname where TotalEn-
ergies (France) encountered about 50 metres He also expressed optimism about the pros-
of oil-bearing sandstone reservoirs in another pect of finding hydrocarbons in the Sapote sec-
exploration well. tion of the Canje block, saying: “The targets in
“While today’s update from JHI is disap- the region have proven to hold some hundreds
pointing, this is the nature of oil exploration,” of millions of barrels of oil and oil equivalent,
commented Gil Holzman, Eco Atlantic’s and we look forward to similar scaled results
co-founder and CEO. “Our stakeholders con- from this upcoming well.”
tinue to support our exploration efforts and Eco Atlantic recently gained an indirect stake
look for us to continue to define these near-term in the Canje project via its acquisition of a 6.4%
high-impact opportunities. Our next focus is the stake in JHI Associates, a Canadian company
Sapote-1 prospect to be spudded in the upcom- that has 17.5% of the block. The remaining
ing weeks, which brings us another opportunity equity in Canje is divided between ExxonMobil
to share in what we hope to be another major (operator), with 35%; TotalEnergies, with 35%;
ExxonMobil led discovery.” and Mid-Atlantic Oil & Gas, with 12.5%. ™

Week 27 08•July•2021 www. NEWSBASE .com P11