Bill Armstrong, credited with discovering billions of barrels of oil on Alaska’s North Slope, has set his sights south on Aruba.
Last year, a subsidiary of Armstrong Oil & Gas signed a production sharing contract with Aruba’s national oil company for the exploration, development and production of hydrocarbons offshore Aruba.
Most people think of a tropical Caribbean destination at the mention of Aruba, Armstrong told attendees during the EnerCom Denver conference on Aug. 19.
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Bill Armstrong, founder and CEO, Armstrong Oil & Gas (Source: Armstrong)
“Well, you can actually see Venezuela from the beach, so it’s actually an oil country,” Armstrong said. “It happens to be just 20 miles away from Venezuela.”
The region has long been known for its hydrocarbon-bearing potential. Spanish oil and gas firm Repsol drilled an exploration well offshore Aruba “about eight or nine years ago,” Armstrong said.
Repsol’s Aruba well was uncommercial, drilled outside of a basin and on “essentially a volcanic-type high.”
“But it had pay in it—pretty interesting pay, actually,” he said.
Northeast of the legacy Repsol well lies a massive, undrilled structure spanning roughly 200,000 acres and 2,000 ft of closure.
“That is the biggest thing I have ever seen undrilled,” Armstrong said.
Armstrong said the Aruba play shows similar characteristics to Ekofisk, one of the largest oilfields in the North Sea.
Ekofisk, a 4 Bbbl oilfield, is massive. By comparison, the Aruba prospect could be on the order of fifteen times larger, Armstrong said.
“It’s the kind of thing that if that’s drilled and it works, that company is going to go to the moon,” he said.
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Potential partners
While much of the U.S. oil and gas sector has settled into predictable “rinse-and-repeat” shale manufacturing, Armstrong Oil & Gas has remained unapologetically committed to high-risk exploration.
In 2013, Armstrong discovered the enormous Pikka Field in a region of Alaska’s North Slope considered to be past its prime. Pikka is now the third-largest oil discovery in U.S. history.
“There’s now been nine discoveries up here since we did [Pikka],” Armstrong said. “Our track record for success on these wildcats is about 90%.”
On average, Armstrong’s discoveries have come in at roughly 500 MMbbl each.
Armstrong aims to apply that track record of success in Alaska to the offshore Aruba prospect. However, Armstrong hasn’t picked a partner yet to join the company in exploring Aruba, he said.
Eagle Beach In Oranjestad, Aruba. (Source: Adobe Stock)
But in just the past month, a who’s who of industry heavyweights has called Armstrong to express interest in the Aruba play: Exxon Mobil, TotalEnergies, BP Plc, Eni SpA, Repsol and Occidental, among others, have all inquired about the prospect, he said.
International players are actively probing this patch of the world for new oil and gas.
Exxon Mobil serves as the operator for the prolific Stabroek Block offshore Guyana—the world’s largest oil discovery in the past decade. Chevron recently closed a $55 billion takeover of rival Hess Corp., picking up a 30% minority stake in the Guyana project.
TotalEnergies and APA Corp. are jointly exploring the GranMorgu field offshore Suriname. Last year, the partners announced a $10.5 billion final investment decision to go forward with developing what is set to become Suriname’s first offshore oil project.
“I think the world is now realizing that the runway is getting short on shale plays,” Armstrong said. “We need to find something big.”
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