Guyana oil discovery does little to bolster Tullow

An unwanted hat-trick of underwhelming oil finds fail to alleviate the whiff of crisis around troubled independent

Hopes of salvaging Anglo-Irish independent Tullow Oil’s turbulent 2019 and preventing further downward share price pressure in 2020 were heavily dependent on the company’s third and final Guyana offshore drill target of last year—the first well to test both the Kanuku block and the Cretaceous play. Numerous light oil discoveries already made by ExxonMobil within the Cretaceous of neighbouring block Stabroek only added to the expectancy. But while Spain’s Repsol, the operator with a 37.5pc stake, alongside partners Tullow (37.5pc) and Total (25pc), announced an oil discovery at the Carapa-1 well—the third from three wells now drilled in Guyana by Tullow—the preliminary results raised doubts a