Guyana’s oil reserves increase to 18.7 B barrels – S&P Global
…Govt. yet to update country
Kaieteur News – American analytics company S&P Global Inc. in its May report said that Guyana’s oil reserves has increased to approximately 18.7 billion barrels of recoverable resources since 2015.
The report was compiled by S&P Global Commodity Insights analysts Fernanda Machado, Mariana Anjos and Jerry Jarvis.
“In just nine years, it has established itself as the fifth largest [basin] in Latin America, while continuing to grow,” the analysts said.
Production is expected to peak in 2037 at 2.3 million boe/d, with oil accounting for 90%, they said.
“High-quality, low-emissions and cost-effective barrels have already reached European markets,” the analysts said. “Currently, all gas production is associated with oil and reinjected, but the marketed gas is expected to increase.”
Concerns have been raised about the lack of transparency about the country’s oil reserves. The Government of Guyana has failed to regularly update the public on the status of the reserves and how they are being managed.
In April, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo explained that while the recent discoveries made by ExxonMobil are substantial, they do not represent a significant increase in the country’s overall oil reserves.
The last resource count, dated April 26, 2022, declared the recoverable resource for the Stabroek Block at nearly 11 billion oil-equivalent barrels. Since then, Exxon announced eight discoveries, the Seabob-1 and Kiru-Kiru-1 wells, Sailfin-1, Yarrow-1, Fangtooth SE, Lancetfish-1, and Lancetfish-2 wells, along with the recently announced Bluefin discovery.
It was revealed that the Lancetfish discovery, which was made in April 2023, averaged some 100 million tons, which is equivalent to 746 million barrels, according to the conversion formula of the Independent Petroleum Association of America.
The Vice President told reporters, “Right now, there is an assumption that the information is being withheld, that’s false. I pointed out to you that we get these reports every three months and the reports that we have state what the reserves are and that has not changed materially over the past maybe year or so, so that’s not withholding information that we have.”
According to him, “Information about the reserves have been part of that report and it’s around the same 11 billion barrels. I’ve pointed out that…a discovery doesn’t mean that you know the size of the reserve. That to get to size of reserve, long after the discovery, you have to do appraisal, see the type of rock, a complex process before you get to the reserve.”
In contradiction to the VP’s words in May of this year Chairman of Wales Development Authority, Asgar Ally said that some 15 billion barrels of oil have already been discovered in the Stabroek Block.
This is despite Vice President (VP) Bharrat Jagdeo and ExxonMobil Guyana Limited (EMGL) Country Manager, Alistair Routledge maintaining that the country’s resources have not significantly moved since the last update in 2022 when it was at 11 billion barrels.
The Former Finance Minister and Former Deputy Governor of the Bank of Jamaica represented Guyana at the Jamaica Stock Exchange Conference held back in January. During an interview at the conference he made the disclosure of an additional 4 billion barrels of oil being discovered.
“As of this point in time we don’t know the full extent of the oil deposits but it’s huge and I could explain what that means. It’s about I would say they have identified at least 15 billion barrels of oil in the (Stabroek) Block. So at this point in time, I would say Exxon has identified about 25 to 35% of that,” Ally who is an economist stated.
