Seismic technology and a relentless exploration drive have led the Exxon Mobil Corp.-driven consortium to more oil offshore Guyana, bringing its discovery count to 15.

The latest discovery, made by the Mako-1 well, adds to the more than 6 billion barrels of oil equivalent in estimated recoverable resources found by Exxon and partners Hess Corp. and China’s CNOOC on the Stabroek Block. The news was delivered Dec. 23 just a couple of days after the partners announced the start of oil production from their Liza Phase 1 development.

RELATED: Exxon Mobil, Partners Start Production At Liza Field Offshore Guyana

“Our proprietary full-wave seismic inversion technology continues to help us better define our discovered resource and move rapidly to the development phase,” Mike Cousins, senior vice president of exploration and new ventures for ExxonMobil, said in a statement.

Exxon said Dec. 23 the Mako-1 well hit about 50 m (164 ft) of high-quality oil-bearing sandstone reservoir. The well was drilled about 10 km southeast of the Liza Field in 1,620 m (5,315 ft) of water.

Exploration and appraisal activity continue on the block with four drillships at work.

Progress also continues on the Liza Phase 2 development, which will utilize the Liza Unity FPSO.  The partners are targeting a mid-2022 production startup of the vessel, which has a capacity of 220,000 barrels of oil per day.