Guyana is a small, mineral rich country located on the north-east coast of South America. Its immediate neighbors are Venezuela, Brazil, and Suriname. Recently, oil was discovered in Guyana, so there is heightened interest in Guyana’s oil industry by people both inside and outside of Guyana. One question that has persisted is where exactly in Guyana is this industry located?
Most Guyanese live on the narrow coastal plain and are accustomed to thinking of the wealth of their country as being located inland in the interior of the country. For anyone not aware, oil has been discovered not in the interior, but beneath the coastal waters of Guyana, in its 200 nautical miles Exclusive Economic Zone (Figure 1)
Figure 1. Location Map of Guyana. Map created by guynode.com
For a better understanding of the locational characteristics of this industry, let’s take a closer look at the petroleum blocks, oil wells, and oil fields within the Economic Exclusive Zone.
Petroleum Blocks within Guyana’s EEZ
For petroleum exploration, Guyana’s Exclusive Economic Zone has been subdivided into several large geographic areas called petroleum blocks (See Figure below. Double click to zoom in). To date, oil has been discovered in two blocks: the Stabroek Block and the Orinduik Block .
Figure 2. Guyana Petroleum Blocks. Map created by Guynode.com
Many of the petroleum blocks have been licensed to various companies for oil exploration (Table 1). As can be seen from the table, the companies are mostly large multinational corporations.
Table 1. Petroleum Block License Holders
| Petroleum Block | License Holders * |
| Stabroek | ExxonMobil (USA), CNOOC Nexen (China), Hess (USA) |
| Orinduik | Tullow Oil plc (UK), Total (France), Eco Atlantic (Canada) |
| Roraima | Anadarko (USA) |
| Kaiteur | Ratio Energy Limited (Israel), Ratio Guyana (Guyana) |
| Canje | Esso (USA), Mid-Atlantic (Guyana), JHI (British Virgin Islands) |
| Demerara, Corentyne, Pomeroon | CGX Energy, (Canada) |
| Kanuku | Repsol (Spain), Tullow (Uk) |
Since 2015, ExxonMobil and its partners have drilled 13 productive wells in the Stabroek Block. Gross resources in the Stabroek Block is estimated to exceed 6 billion barrels of oil equivalent. In addition, the potential for future multi-billion-barrel discoveries within the block remain high.
In August 2019, Tullow and its partners announced the drilling of one productive well in the Orinduik Block. This resource estimated at 100 million barrels of recoverable oil.
Current Oil Fields Within Guyana’s EEZ
Oil fields are the reservoirs in the rocky strata of the earth which trap hydrocarbons. An oil field may contain one or more active oil wells. The map below show the currently detected oil fields in the EEZ. Most are under the control of ExxonMobil and its partners.
ExxonMobil’s Liza field is the largest oil field discovered so far and will be the first to be developed for production. It will be developed in two phases: the Liza Phase 1 development and the Lisa Phase 2 development.
The Liza Phase 1 development is located approximately 190 km offshore from Georgetown in water depths of 1,500 – 1,900 meters. The development plan includes completion of a floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel designed to produce up to 120,000 barrels of oil per day by 2020. A total of 17 wells will be drilled which will include eight production wells, six water injection wells, and three gas injection wells. Total cost of the project is estimated at US $4.4bn.
The Liza Phase 2 development targets 600 million barrels of recoverable oil in the Stabroek Block.
By the mid-2020s Exxon oil production could rise to 750,000 barrels a day. Guyana will receive a 2 percent royalty on gross earnings plus 50 percent of oil proceeds.
Conclusion
So, there you have it. Oil wells in Guyana are located offshore, almost 200 km from the coast. All the current oil fields are located east of the Essequibo River in what appears to be undisputed waters.
For more maps as well as shapefiles on Guyana, visit https://guynode.com