ExxonMobil has moved its drillship from the disputed waters offshore Guyana, where it recently made a significant oil discovery, triggering a maritime border spat between Venezuela and Guyana.

According to reports, the Transocean-owned Deepwater Champion drillship which had been used for drilling at the Lisa-1 prospect where Exxon struck oil in May, has completed its operations and moved away.

The vessel’s AIS data on MarineTraffic.com shows the drillship is currently located in the U.S. sector of the Gulf of Mexico, offshore Texas, more than 4000 kilometers away from its Guyanese drilling location.

Since the maritime area administered by Guyana has been contested by Venezuela, which claims sovereignty over the location of the concession ExxonMobil is operating at, it has been reported that Guyana authorities might have caved in to the pressure from its neighbor and had the ship removed from the block.

Electoral stunt?

However, Raphael Trotman, Guyana’s Natural Resources Minister told AFP that the rig had left the area as the exploration work was done, saying Venezuela’s claims are “nothing more than posturing ahead of elections.”

“Once the discovery was made, there is no more need for an exploration rig. You now have to have a production platform” the AFP has quoted Trotman as saying.

He reportedly also said that ExxonMobil is continuing to conduct seismic survey to “see if there are other wells nearby.”

The seismic acquisition piece of information has been confirmed by Hess Corporation, which owns a 30 pct stake in the Exxon-run Guyana project. Hess on July 29 said Exxon recently kicked off the acquisition of 17,000 square kilometers of 3D seismic.

Source: www.offshoreenergytoday.com

Please leave comments and feedback below