New oil findings at a deeper layer in Guyana's seabed could help adding billions of barrels to what is already the world's largest oil discovery in 20 years, Hess Corp. Chief Executive John Hess said on June 2 during a webcast.
Hess has a 30% stake in an Exxon Corp.-led consortium that has found 11 billion barrels of oil and gas in the tiny-South America country.
The group, which made most of its more than 30 oil discoveries at 15,000 feet depths, has started to drill at 18,000 feet, he said.
"We are starting to find other attractive deep prospects," Hess said at Bernstein's Annual Strategic Decisions conference.
"There are multi-billion barrels remaining on top of" the 11 billion barrels found so far, he said.
The Fangtooth discovery well drilled earlier this year at 18,000 feet, for example, could underpin another production unit on its own, Hess said, pending appraisal wells.
Projects in Guyana are ahead of schedule, he said. Exxon's third planned platform may now start production at Payara as soon as the third quarter 2023, from 2024 before, Hess said.
Guyana's rising production will help Hess grow output at a 10% annual rate, Hess said. It also exempts the company from having to make acquisitions to sustain higher dividends to shareholders, he said.
"We are not interested in M&A," Hess said. "We don't need to do it."
Recommended Reading
The One Where EOG’s Stock Tanked
2024-02-23 - A rare earnings miss pushed the wildcatter’s stock down as much as 6%, while larger and smaller peers’ share prices were mostly unchanged. One analyst asked if EOG is like Narcissus.
73-year Wildcatter Herbert Hunt, 95, Passes Away
2024-04-12 - Industry leader Herbert Hunt was instrumental in dual-lateral development, opening the North Sea to oil and gas development and discovering Libya’s Sarir Field.
Sunoco’s $7B Acquisition of NuStar Evades Further FTC Scrutiny
2024-04-09 - The waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act for Sunoco’s pending acquisition of NuStar Energy has expired, bringing the deal one step closer to completion.
Buffett: ‘No Interest’ in Occidental Takeover, Praises 'Hallelujah!' Shale
2024-02-27 - Berkshire Hathaway’s Warren Buffett added that the U.S. electric power situation is “ominous.”
EOG Resources Wildcatting Veteran Billy Helms to Retire
2024-04-02 - Joining an EOG Resources predecessor in 1981, Helms is among the pre-1986-oil-bust generation who later found success in shale.