Huge volumes of discovered hydrocarbons worldwide are currently ‘stranded,’ according to a study by Westwood Global Energy Group. The consultant has identified 119 fields in this category that were found between 2008 and 2016 with collectively 11 Bbbl of oil and 36 Bboe of gas, but currently not progressing toward development, including Brazil, Angola, and the Falkland Islands in the south Atlantic.
Apache Corp and Total SA announced they had made a major oil discovery in a closely watched area off the coast of South America’s Suriname, sending Apache’s shares surging nearly 27%.
Thanks to ExxonMobil’s run of success in oil exploration offshore Guyana, the country is on a path to becoming a Latin American powerhouse, Wood Mackenzie said. The super-major announced its tenth Guyana discovery this week, increasing the discovered recoverable resource in its Stabroek Block to more than five billion barrels.
Norway's Equinor will invest up to US$ 15 billion in Brazil over the next 12 years to develop oil, gas and renewable energy sources, the company said. Coinciding with an expected drop in output from many aging oilfields off the cost of Norway, Brazil is expected to become a core region for Equinor as the firm takes advantage of the country’s opening in recent years to more foreign investment.
ExxonMobil made its eighth oil discovery offshore Guyana at the Longtail-1 well in the Stabroek Block on June 20. The company encountered 256 feet of oil-bearing sandstone. The well was drilled to 18,057 feet depth in 6,365 feet of water.
For the sixth time Exxon and partners at the Stabroek block offshore Guyana are celebrating another major find in northern South American waters. In effect, Ranger-1 exploration well, the sixth find since discovering Liza in 2015, hit approximately 70m of high-quality, oil-bearing carbonate reservoirs some 60mi northwest of the Liza development.
The Uruguayan government announced the discovery of free hydrocarbons liquids in core samples next to source rocks in the northern county of Salto at a depth of 450 metres, which seems to be similar to another discovery two years ago.
Brazil's state-run oil company Petrobras found good quality oil in a sub-salt area of the offshore Santos Basin, one of the world's most promising oil frontiers, according to a securities filing by Petrobras on Tuesday.
For some, the prospect of the Falkland Islands becoming an oil-producing country creates exciting visions of opportunity, while for others it seems like a nightmare. What is certain is that oil, like sheep and fishing before it, will inevitably bring changes to both our wealth and our way of life.
Mexico’s government oil and gas giant Pemex confirmed the discovery of a crude reserve which could hold over 500 million barrels, and described as the largest on land strike in the last decade.