(NEWS ROOM) Director of the Department of Energy, Dr. Mark Bynoe in the wee hours of Monday announced that UK-based company Tullow has successfully opened a new Upper Tertiary oil play in the Guyana basin at the Joe-1 exploration Well.

A statement from the Ministry of the Presidency noted that this is the second discovery of oil in two different Wells operated by Tullow in less than six weeks.

The first oil discovery by Tullow was announced on August 12; this discovery was made at the Jethro-1 Well.

“The Co-operative Republic of Guyana continues to be encouraged by the prolific rate of discovery in our country. Every Guyanese can be assured that the Government will continue to work conscientiously to pursue the most effective and efficient marketing strategies of Guyana’s crude entitlement to transform our economy and to implement sustainable development programmes from which all Guyanese can benefit,” Dr. Bynoe was quoted as saying in the Government statement.

The Joe-1 exploration well was drilled by the Stena Forth drillship to a total depth of 2,175 metres in water depth of 780 metres. The evaluation of logging and sampling data confirms that Joe-1 has encountered 14 metres of net oil pay in high-quality oil bearing sandstone reservoirs of Upper Tertiary age.

The Energy Director explained that the Joe-1 well is the first oil discovery to be made in the Upper Tertiary play type, which further de-risks the petroleum system of the western area of the Orinduik block, where a significant number of Tertiary and Cretaceous age prospects have been identified.

“Guyana’s future is bright but more importantly, the time is ripe for all Guyanese to focus on how they want to see their oil revenues spent and invested”, Dr. Bynoe said.

Meanwhile, the Repsol-operated Carapa-1 well on the Kanuku licence (Tullow 37.5 per cent) is scheduled to commence drilling in late September with the Rowan EXL II jack-up rig and will test the Cretaceous oil play with a result due in the fourth quarter of 2019.

Further, Dr. Bynoe said, Tullow and its partners will now evaluate data from the Joe-1 discovery alongside data from the Jethro-1 discovery announced in August 2019 and await the outcome of the Carapa well to determine the optimal follow-on exploration and appraisal programme.

The Well was drilled on the Orinduik licence, offshore Guyana by Tullow’s wholly owned subsidiary Tullow Guyana B.V. which is the operator of the Orinduik block with a 60 per cent stake. Total E&P Guyana B.V. holds 25 per cent with the remaining 15 per cent being held by Eco (Atlantic) Guyana Incorporated.

On completion of operations, the Stena Forth drill ship will depart Guyana and return to Ghana.