Georgetown: An ExxonMobil Corp discovery off the coast of Guyana may hold oil and natural gas worth 12 times the nation’s entire economic output, Bloomberg has reported.
The Liza-1 well, which probably holds the equivalent of more than 700 million barrels of oil, may begin pumping crude in as few as five years, Minister of Governance Raphael Trotman, said in an interview Monday. The prospect would be on par with a recent Exxon find at the Hadrian formation in the Gulf of Mexico, and would be worth about US$40 billion at today’s international crude price.
Guyana produces no oil and its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of US$3.23 billion in 2014 ranked between Burundi and Swaziland, according to the World Bank. Exxon, which has a market value of US$341 billion, has declined to provide an estimate for Liza-1 since describing the discovery as “significant” in a May 20 statement. Guyana has been receiving sustained international attention from huge companies, especially in the oil sector, after the US Geological Survey said in 2000 that the Guyana-Suriname Basin has the second largest unexplored oil potential in the world after Greenland.
“A find of this magnitude for a country like ours, which sits on the lower end of the scale of countries in this hemisphere, this could be transformational,” Trotman told the news agency. “From my sense, from speaking to experts outside of Exxon, it has to be something excess of 700 million barrels.”
Exxon, which began drilling the well in March, said it found a 295-foot (90-metre) column of oil- and gas-soaked rock in the Stabroek Block off the Essequibo Coast. The well is 120 miles (193 kilometers) offshore and 5,710 feet beneath the sea surface.
The multibillion-dollar oil exploration project, which is expected to be executed over 10 years, got underway in early March.
The scope of operations spans a drillship, with approximately 200 crew and contractors; helicopter support flying out of Ogle International Airport a utility as well as a search-and-rescue craft, which is always on standby; four support vessels and two shore bases – Georgetown and Trinidad, as well as a waste treatment facility at the John Fernandes Site at Houston, Greater Georgetown.
ExxonMobil Country Manager Jeff Simmons had stated that work had proceeded without any interference from Venezuela, which has raised concerns about the rig’s operation in the Essequibo basin, to which it has laid claim along with the entire county. The country recently issued two decrees which are designed to allow it to aggressively and illegally patrol Guyana’s waters.
Venezuela has repeatedly laid claim to the area to be explored, ignoring an 1899 Arbitral Tribunal Award, which was declared as the full and final settlement of the boundary between the two South American nations. With Venezuela’s insistence on its position, Guyana is pushing for judicial settlement of the boundary.
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