(Reuters) – Exxon Mobil is using artificial intelligence and new technology to interpret seismic data from Guyana in days rather than months, John Ardill, the company’s vice president of exploration, said on Tuesday.
High-performance computing and AI-driven algorithms have accelerated seismic imaging, Ardill said at the Offshore Technology Conference in Houston.
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“We’re using what was called deep learning, classification and so reinforced learning…. We can turn those tools around in just a few days, and then the interpreter can get a prioritized list of anomalies to go effectively validate,” he said.
Exxon Mobil leads the consortium that controls all crude and gas production in the South American country, which has boosted output capacity to more than 900,000 barrels per day since crude production started there six years ago.
The company has also been able to use new technologies in other parts of the world to revisit oil prospects previously considered uneconomic, Ardill said. Future exploration will increasingly focus on areas that were once too difficult to develop but are becoming viable as technology improves, he said.
He said Exxon expects to complete seismic acquisition by the end of the year and quickly assess its offshore block in Trinidad and Tobago, which borders Guyana. The company believes the geology could resemble Guyana or Angola, he said.
“Angola is deepwater reservoirs, same as Guyana, and the concept we are looking for in Trinidad is similar deepwater oil reservoirs,” Ardill told reporters on the sidelines of the conference.
He cited Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago as examples of governments that move quickly and offer political and commercial terms that work for both the host country and Exxon. While Venezuela also has a large resource base, Ardill said the commercial and political conditions must align for Exxon to consider a possible return to the country.
“It is one of the largest endowments in the world, and with investment and technology it can be unlocked,” he said. “It’s about creating the right investment conditions.”
MIDDLE EAST CONFLICT
The world has yet to feel the full impact of global supply disruptions from the conflict involving the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran and closure of the Strait of Hormuz, Ardill said. He said Exxon routinely plans for such disruptions and was not caught completely off guard.
“We evaluate all these eventualities and plan,” Ardill said, noting that the company used its diversified global supply base to respond to disruptions.
He said oil and gas projects in the Permian Basin and Guyana “are extremely important when Middle East oil and gas are restricted.”
Exxon’s break-even oil price in the Permian Basin and Guyana is below $30 a barrel, and new projects — including planned exploration in Alaska — must compete with that benchmark, Ardill said, adding that new technology could help make that possible.
The challenge for Alaska is not political or geological but commercial, he said.
“Alaska, because of location and conditions, is more expensive,” Ardill said. “That’s where technology comes in, to unlock the resource and bring those costs down.”
Reporting by Curtis Williams in Houston; Writing by Liz Hampton in Denver; Editing by Nathan Crooks and David Gregorio
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