There has been another oil discovered offshore Guyana by the joint venture partners in the Corentyne Block.

The partners, CGX Energy Inc. and the Frontera Energy Corporation have discovered oil in a well drilled on the block but they are not giving assurances that there is enough crude in place to ultimately lead to commercial oil production.

The joint venture partners in the Corentyne Block made the announcement last week in their respective first-quarter results stating that the Wei-1 well was successfully drilled and oil was encountered.

“Preliminary indications from the secondary targets in the Maastrichtian and Campanian are positive, however no assurance can be given that these activities will ultimately produce hydrocarbons in commercial quantities,” Frontera Energy said in a statement.

Hydrocarbons encountered to date

“It is not yet certain that the hydrocarbons encountered to date in the well are yet sufficient to underpin commercial development on the Northern portion of the Corentyne block,” CGX Energy said in its press release. 

Oilprice.com reports that the uncertainty of whether the discovery could be commercially viable is a rare setback for explorers offshore Guyana, which has turned into one of the hottest new exploration provinces for many companies, including US supermajor ExxonMobil.

Exxon, and its partner Hess Corp., have found more than 11 billion barrels of oil equivalent offshore the South American country and have made more than 20 discoveries to date, many of which are large and under development.  

Just last week, Exxon said it would go ahead with a $12.7 billion oil development off the coast of Guyana after the country’s government gave its final approval to the project.

Exxon expects Uaru, the fifth project on Guyana’s Stabroek Block to add around 250,000 barrels of daily capacity after a targeted startup in 2026.

Two Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessels, the Liza Destiny and Liza Unity, are currently operating offshore Guyana and produced an average of 375,000 barrels of oil per day in the first quarter.

A third FPSO, the Prosperity, is expected to be operational later this year, adding 220,000 barrels of daily capacity from the Payara development.