ExxonMobil has been named 2017 Explorer of the Year by the World Oil and Gas Council in recognition of excellence and innovation in the global energy industry.
“This award is recognition of ExxonMobil’s successful efforts to strengthen our portfolio by accessing and discovering the highest quality resources,” said Steve Greenlee, president of ExxonMobil Exploration Company. “This recognition would not be possible without the dedication of our employees and their daily commitment to safety and operational excellence at every stage of exploration.”
During the year, ExxonMobil announced a number of discoveries, acquisitions and other activities in various countries, including Brazil, Cyprus, Equatorial Guinea, Guyana, Mauritania, Papua New Guinea and Suriname.
Significant exploration activity took place offshore Guyana, where ExxonMobil announced four discoveries in 2017 at Payara, Liza Deep, Snoek, and Turbot. These four discoveries added to the earlier Liza discovery, made in 2015.
Mike Cousins, executive vice president of ExxonMobil Exploration Company, accepted the award on behalf of ExxonMobil at an award dinner in London in December. He was accompanied by a number of company representatives, including Kerry Moreland, Guyana Basin exploration manager.
“Guyana has become an exciting exploration area where we have consistently demonstrated our technical ability in deepwater exploration and operations,” said Moreland. “We are planning for continued success with our drilling program in 2018.”
Since receipt of the award in December 2017, ExxonMobil has announced a sixth discovery offshore Guyana at the Ranger-1 exploration well.
Other notable ExxonMobil exploration highlights throughout the year include:
Brazil
- In September and October, the company added 14 blocks comprising more than 1.25 million net acres offshore Brazil through bid rounds and farm-in agreements, bringing its total acreage in the country to more than 1.4 million net acres. These included an agreement to purchase half of Statoil’s interest in an offshore block containing the Carcara field, estimated to contain a recoverable resource of two billion barrels of oil.
- In December, ExxonMobil signed a memorandum of understanding with Petrobras to jointly identify and evaluate potential business opportunities.
Cyprus
- In April, the company signed an exploration and production sharing contract for offshore Block 10.
Equatorial Guinea
- In June, ExxonMobil signed a production sharing contract with the government of Equatorial Guinea for deepwater block EG-11.
Malaysia
- In November, ExxonMobil signed production sharing contracts for acreage offshore Sabah, Malaysia.
Mauritania
- In December, ExxonMobil signed production sharing contracts for three offshore blocks: C22, C17 and C14.
Papua New Guinea
- In June, ExxonMobil announced positive production well tests results from the Muruk-1 sidetrack 3 well. ExxonMobil also drilled the P’nyang South-2 well, which successfully confirmed an extension to the earlier P’nyang discovery.
- Across Papua New Guinea, ExxonMobil acquired an additional 5.7 million net acres of prospective acreage, onshore and offshore.
Suriname
- In July, ExxonMobil signed a production sharing contract for Block 59 offshore Suriname in the Guyana-Suriname Basin.
United States – Gulf of Mexico
- In March and August, ExxonMobil was awarded 25 blocks in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico lease sales.
