NEW YORK, United States (CMC) — Oil company, Hess Corporation, Wednesday announced an increase in the gross discovered recoverable resource estimate for the Stabroek Block offshore Guyana to approximately 11 billion barrels of oil equivalent, up from the previous estimate of more than 10 billion barrels of oil equivalent.

The updated resource estimate includes three new discoveries on the block at Barreleye, Lukanani and Patwa in addition to the Fangtooth and Lau Lau discoveries announced earlier this year.

Hess said that the Barreleye-1 well encountered approximately 230 feet of hydrocarbon bearing sandstone reservoirs of which approximately 52 feet is high quality oil bearing. It said the well was drilled in 3,840 feet of water and is located approximately 20 miles southeast of the Liza Field.

Hess said that the Lukanani-1 well encountered 115 feet of hydrocarbon bearing sandstone reservoirs of which approximately 76 feet is high quality oil bearing. The well is located in the southeastern part of the block, approximately two miles west of the Pluma discovery.

The US-based oil company said that the Patwa-1 well encountered 108 feet of hydrocarbon bearing sandstone reservoirs and was drilled in 6,315 feet of water and is located approximately three miles northwest of the Cataback-1 discovery.

“These new discoveries further demonstrate the extraordinary resource density of the Stabroek Block and will underpin our queue of future development opportunities. We look forward to continuing to work with the Government of Guyana and our partners to realise the remarkable potential of this world class resource for the benefit of all stakeholders,” Hess CEO, John Hess.

Hess and its co-venture partners currently have four sanctioned developments on the Stabroek Block. The Liza Phase 1 development, which began production in December 2019 utilising the Liza Destiny floating production, storage and offloading vessel (FPSO) with a production capacity of approximately 120,000 gross barrels of oil per day, recently completed production optimisation work that expanded its production capacity to more than 140,000 gross barrels of oil per day.

It is currently producing approximately 130,000 gross barrels of oil per day and is expected to reach its full capacity in the second quarter.

The Liza Phase 2 development, utilising the Liza Unity FPSO, began production in February 2022 and is expected to reach its production capacity of approximately 220,000 gross barrels of oil per day by the third quarter.

The third development at Payara is ahead of schedule and now expected to come online in late 2023 utilising the Prosperity FPSO with a production capacity of approximately 220,000 gross barrels of oil per day. The fourth development, Yellowtail, is expected to come online in 2025, utilising the ONE GUYANA FPSO with a production capacity of approximately 250,000 gross barrels of oil per day.