Exxon announced its first discovery for 2020 in Guyana. The latest discovery was at the Uaru exploration well.
Uaru encountered approximately 94 ft (29 metres) of high-quality, oil-bearing sandstone reservoir. The well, drilled in 6,342 ft (1,933 metres) of water, is located approximately 10 miles (16 kilometres) northeast of the Liza field.
Exxon also raised its Guyana oil estimates by 2 billion barrels. The company now estimates the recoverable resource base in Guyana at more than 8 billion oil-equivalent barrels. The Uaru discovery will be added to the resource estimate at a later date.
According to Exxon, production from the Liza Phase 1 development is currently ramping up and will produce up to 120,000 barrels of oil per day (bopd) in the coming months, utilising the Liza Destiny floating production storage and offloading vessel (FPSO).
The Liza Unity FPSO, which will be employed for the second phase of Liza development and will have a production capacity of 220,000 bopd, is under construction and expected to start production by mid-2022.
Pending government approvals and project sanctioning of a third development, production from the Payara field north of the Liza discoveries could start as early as 2023, reaching an estimated 220,000 barrels of oil per day.
Four drillships in Guyana continue to explore and appraise new resources as well as develop the resources within approved projects. A fifth drillship is expected to be deployed later this year.