ExxonMobil is preparing a production test at its Payara location off Guyana after confirming the wildcat is a discovery and dis­closing additional resources with from a third appraisal at its nearby Liza find.

The Payara-1 probe, put down in the Stabroek block by the drillship Stena Carron, struck more than 29 metres of high-quality, oil-bearing sandstone reservoirs after being sunk to 5512 metres, the US supermajor said.

“This