GUYANA’S Ministry of Natural Resources announced Thursday that an appraisal well drilled by a consortium led by Exxon Mobil has resulted in a “significant discovery” of oil and gas.

In a statement, the ministry said the well called Lancetfish-2 is the fourth offshore discovery in the country this year, and brings the total number of discoveries from 2015 to date to 46, for more than 11 billion barrels of recoverable oil and gas.

Most findings have been at Exxon’s prolific Stabroek block, where oil production was inaugurated in 2019. The 6.6 million-acre (26,000-square km) block is expected to generate up to 1.2 million barrels of oil and gas per day by 2027.

The Lancetfish-2 discovery, which belongs to the Exxon-consortium’s Liza production licence area, has an estimated 20 metres of hydrocarbon-bearing reservoir, along with approximately 81 metres of additional hydrocarbon-bearing sandstone, the ministry said in a release.

Exxon declined to comment.

The reservoir is expected to undergo an appraisal process, the ministry added. The disclosure did not include an estimate of the number of barrels of oil found.

In April, the consortium — which also includes Hess and CNOOC — announced it had found some 92 feet (28 metres) of oil-bearing sandstone at the Lancetfish-1 well.