While it is the Exxon-led consortium that is key to driving Guyana’s epic oil boom, which will see the Caribbean country become a leading oil producer, other international energy companies are also engaged in exploration drilling. British driller Tullow Oil, which is the operator of the world-class Jubilee field in offshore Guyana discovered in 2007, announced 37.5% partner Repsol, with TotalEnergies holding the remaining 25%, had spud the Beebei-Potaro well in the Kanuku Block. That wildcat well, which comes on the back of the 2020 Carapa medium oil discovery in the block where 13 feet of net oil pay was identified, is targeting a prospect that Repsol estimates contain around 200 million barrels of crude oil. The Kanuku Block lies below the southeastern tip of the Stabroek Block, where Exxon has made nearly all discoveries in offshore Guyana and is believed to lie on the same petroleum fairway. To the east of the Kanuku Block lies Block 58 offshore Suriname, where TotalEnergies and partner Apache have made five quality light oil discoveries with modelling estimating the block contains 6.5 billion barrels. Those factors, notably the slew of high-quality oil discoveries made by Exxon in the Southeastern tip of the Stabroek Block, bode well for further finds by Repsol and its partners in the Kanuku Block.
Most of the crude oil found so far, in offshore Guyana, has been medium to light and relatively sweet, meaning it is cheaper and easier to refine into high-quality low contaminant fuels such as gasoline and diesel. That means, particularly in comparison to neighboring Venezuela, Colombia, and Ecuador which all predominantly pump heavy sour crude oil grades, the petroleum being produced in Guyana has a low carbon footprint. Those characteristics are especially important in a world where there are significant global efforts to significantly reduce carbon emissions while ratcheting up pollution restrictions and regulations. Disappointingly for Tullow, its exploration wells in the Orinduik Block, Jethro-1 and Joe-1, found high-sulfur content heavy crude oil, which compared to the light sweet crude being pumped by Exxon from the Stabroek Block is less economically viable.
Guyana is a rapidly growing offshore drilling hotspot, accounting for nearly a fifth of discovered oil and natural gas resources globally and nearly a third of solely oil discoveries. The latest discoveries, made by Exxon and Repsol, coupled with growing light oil production will see Guyana become the third largest oil producer in Latin America after Brazil and then Mexico. That will deliver a tremendous economic windfall for the deeply impoverished South American nation which will grow with Georgetown focused on attracting greater energy investment and building urgently needed industry infrastructure.
