OREANDA-NEWS. ExxonMobil spud a fourth well on the deepwater Stabroek block off Guyana after its Skipjack well failed to uncover commercial quantities of hydrocarbons, the company said.

"We remain committed to evaluating the block's significant exploration potential," ExxonMobil said, adding that it spudded the fourth well, Liza-3, on 4 September.

Skipjack was the company's third well on Stabroek, and was spudded 17 July.

The US major discovered 32°API crude at Liza-1 in May 2015. The Liza-2 well confirmed recoverable resources of 800mn-1.4bn bl of oil equivalent (boe), ExxonMobil said in June.

The Stena Carron drillship that worked Liza-2 and Skipjack is drilling Liza-3 "that will help to further understand the discovery made by the Liza-1 well," the company said. "Additional exploration wells are planned in 2017."

The company plans to start production from Stabroek in 2020, using a 100,000 b/d floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel.

The fast-moving plans sparked an offer from the government of Trinidad last week to refine Guyana's oil.