The hunt for more hydrocarbons continues offshore Guyana, this time outside of the prolific Stabroek Block, as ExxonMobil prepares to conduct a new drill campaign in the 3.3 million acres ultra-deepwater Kaieteur Block some 155 miles off the coast of the South American country.

The Stena Carron drillship is expected to arrive at the Tanager -1 well site today where it will conduct drilling activities at the new prospect over the next several weeks. The campaign will incorporate the use of 20 support vessels.

Tanager-1 is located approximately 138 nautical miles offshore and covers an area of one square kilometre.

A report done by Netherland, Sewell and Associates Inc. on the estimates of the unrisked prospective oil resources in the Kaieteur block, indicates that the Tanager prospect holds 112 million barrels of oil equivalent resources and is supported by 10 reservoirs. Tanager is said to have the highest probability of success. The consultants gave it a 72 percent chance of the operator finding oil.

The Kaieteur block lies in the same geological basin as the Stabroek Block, where total recoverable resources of more than 8 billion barrels of oil equivalent have been discovered to date.