Page 5 - LatAmOil Week 08 2023
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LatAmOil                                     COMMENTARY                                            LatAmOil


                         “We need more competition,” he remarked.  reservoirs holding more than 1bn barrels each.
                           Jagdeo did not specify what part of Stabroek
                         the government was looking to take back or   Looking ahead to tie-backs
                         exactly when it might initiate the relinquish-  According to Routledge, this gap can be rem-
                         ment process. However, he did indicate that   edied by linking Ranger to other sections of
                         Georgetown was not interested in negotiating   Stabroek. EEPGL is looking at other sections of
                         with EEPGL. The company “cannot keep it,” he   the block with the aim of determining whether
                         declared. “That would be illegal.”   Ranger can be linked to them via tie-backs
                           Despite the vice president’s categorical   to support another development project, he
                         remarks, however, there are signs that the   explained.
                         ExxonMobil subsidiary may be hoping to rein   “[We] finished drilling the Tarpon well [and
                         the government’s ability to reclaim pieces of   we] moved to Kokwari, and we have a couple of
                         Stabroek. The company does have a mecha-  other prospects out there ... [We] are trying dif-
                         nism for staving off relinquishment, in that   ferent plays to see if we can find some additional
                         Georgetown will not be able to take any acreage   resource that might support the Ranger resource
                         for which it has secured exploration or devel-  being developed,” he said, according to a report
                         opment licences. And it just so happens that   from OilNOW.gy.
                         EEPGL recently began talking about launching   This is hardly an outlandish solution, as all of   Ranger is
                         work programmes in a hitherto unexploited sec-  the Stabroek projects targeting fields other than   an outlier,
                         tion of the block.                   Liza are slated to involve tie-backs. The floating
                                                              production, storage and off-loading (FPSO)   located close
                         EEPGL’s plans for Ranger             vessel installed to support development work at
                         More specifically, it said it wanted to determine   Payara will also handle crude from the Pacora  to the middle
                         the potential of sites near Ranger, an isolated   field, while the Yellowtail FPSO will also handle
                         oilfield discovered at the Stabroek block within   crude from Redtail. Likewise, the Uaru FPSO   of Stabroek
                         the framework of this year’s drilling programme.  will handle oil from the Mako and Snoek sites,   and quite
                           On February 9, Alistair Routledge, the pres-  while the Whiptail FPSO will handle oil from
                         ident of EEPGL, confirmed that his company   Tilapia and Pinktail.         outside the
                         intended to carry out exploration drilling near   However, the Payara, Yellowtail, Uaru and
                         Ranger. The field lies 60 km north-west of Liza,   Whiptail projects are all targeting fields within  “Golden Lane”
                         the first and thus far the only section of Stabroek   the “Golden Lane” – that is, within the dense
                         to start production. It is the most isolated hydro-  and narrow band of oil discoveries at Stabroek’s
                         carbon-bearing site identified within the block   south-eastern end. Ranger, by contrast, is a rel-
                         to date, as well as one of the deepest, and was   ative outlier, located closer to the middle of the
                         discovered in 2018.                  block and quite outside the boundaries of the
                           Routledge described the Ranger field as   “Golden Lane.” So even if EEPGL makes addi-
                         relatively little compared to other sections of   tional discoveries in the region (such as at Tar-
                         Stabroek, saying it was not capable of supporting   pon and Kokwari, both of which will be drilled
                         a stand-alone development project. His state-  to the north-west of Liza) and connects them to
                         ment is in line with the estimates made by indus-  Ranger via tie-backs, it may still end up leaving
                         try observers; Ranger was initially estimated in   quite a bit of the block undeveloped – and there-
                         July 2018 by Sonya Boodoo, a senior analyst   fore vulnerable to relinquishment.
                         for the Norwegian energy consultancy Rystad   Even so, the company does appear to be
                         Energy, to contain 346mn barrels of crude oil.  sensitive to the possibility of losing some of its
                           Rystad did revise this figure upward to   acreage. As such, it will be interesting to see
                         432mn barrels in July 2022, and S&P Global   how it reacts to the government’s moves to set
                         Platts put forward a figure of 500-600mn bar-  the relinquishment process in motion – and, in
                         rels in December 2022. Nevertheless, Ranger   turn, how Guyanese authorities react to its own
                         is still considerably smaller than the Yellowtail,   efforts to step up exploration in the relatively
                         Uaru and Whiptail projects, all of which target   empty waters near Ranger. ™





















                              All of the development projects planned thus far are in the “Golden Lane” at Stabroek (Image: ExxonMobil)



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