<article><p class="lead">ExxonMobil hit a dry hole for the second time in two months offshore Guyana.</p><p class="lead">The Hassa-1 well on the 120,000 b/d Stabroek block "did not encounter hydrocarbons in the primary target reservoirs," the company said on 16 January.</p><p>In November 2020, ExxonMobil said it failed to make a commercial find at the Tanager-1 well, the first the company drilled on the Kaieteur block northeast of Stabroek.</p><p>ExxonMobil said it is evaluating the data from Hassa-1 "that will be integrated into our regional subsurface interpretation and modelling."</p><p>The two non-commercial wells are rare setbacks in an otherwise successful campaign by ExxonMobil in Guyana's deepwater since 2015. The US major announced its 18th discovery on the block in September 2020.</p><p>ExxonMobil estimates recoverable resources of 9bn bl oil equivalent (boe) on Stabroek, where it is producing 120,000 b/d of 32.1°API Liza crude. It forecasts 750,000 b/d production from Stabroek in 2026.</p><p>ExxonMobil spudded its first well – Bulletwood -1 – on the Canje block north of Stabroek on 1 January.</p><p>ExxonMobil operates Stabroek with a 45pc stake. Its partners are US independent Hess with 30pc and Chinese state-owned CNOOC unit Nexen with 25pc. </p><h3>Court delay</h3><p>The UN's International Court of Justice (ICJ) on 15 January postponed to 25 January its setting of a schedule to hear Guyana's case seeking validation of its border with neighboring Venezuela.</p><p>Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro recently <a href="https://direct.argusmedia.com/newsandanalysis/article/2177683?keywords=guyana">vowed to "reconquer"</a> the resource-rich Essequibo province that covers the western two-thirds of Guyana and includes a part of Stabroek.</p><p>Venezuela says the ICJ has no jurisdiction over the longstanding territorial dispute.</p><p class="bylines">By Canute James</p></article>
