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Canje drilling programme expected to shed

light on extent of Upper Cretaceous play

ABERDEEN-BASED Westwood Global Energy Cretaceous play can be extended,” he remarked.
Group believes that the outcome of ExxonMo- “There’s definitely some interesting more
bil’s exploration drilling programme at the attempts to extend the play both inboard and
Canje block will help determine how far the outboard,” he added.
Upper Cretaceous play extends through the According to previous reports, Canje may
Guyana-Suriname basin. turn out to hold a total of 10bn barrels of oil.
The US super-major has already discovered This would make it even larger than Stabroek,
multiple fields within the Upper Cretaceous which is currently estimated to contain at least
play – including but not limited to Liza, the 9bn barrels.
first oilfield to begin commercial production at Equity in the Canje is split between Exxon-
Stabroek, a block within the Guyanese section of Mobil, with 35%; Total (France), with 35%; JHI
the basin. Its most recent finds, Uaru and Red- (Canada), with 17.5%, and Mid-Atlantic Oil &
tail, also lie within this play, as Jamie Collard, a Gas (Guyana), with 12.5%. (JHI used to have a
senior analyst at Westwood, noted at a recent larger stake in the block, but it reduced its equity
webinar. holdings via a farm-out deal with Total in 2018.)
ExxonMobil is now keen to learn whether
the play extends over the Canje block, which is Extension into Suriname
adjacent to Stabroek, Collard said. The US-based Meanwhile, other companies have proved that
giant has already found quality reservoirs of the play extends beyond the maritime border
hydrocarbons in non-commercial quantities at between Guyana and Suriname.
Bulletwood-1, the first exploration well drilled Collard pointed to the multiple Upper Cre-
at Canje, he noted. taceous discoveries made by Total (France) and
It is hoping to find enough oil at its next two Apache (US) at Block 58 offshore Suriname,
wells – Jabillo-1 and Koebi-1, both spudded in saying that these had shed light on the extent of
March of this year – to justify reclassifying Bul- the play.
letwood as part of a commercial discovery, he “[This] started with the Maka Central dis-
said. covery and was followed by Kwaskwasi and
As such, he said, much depends on the out- Sapakara West last year, and [there was] already
come of drilling work at Canje. This block “is another discovery in the basin this year,” he
going to be the key licence to see if the Upper commented.

Liza and other fields lie within the Upper Cretaceous play (Image: ExxonMobil)

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