Canadian-based group to drill for oil here - says two potentially giant fields located
THE Canadian-based CGX Energy oil group has announced that it has located two potentially giant fields offshore Guyana and will be drilling for oil in about a month. In a statement issued in Toronto, it said it has contracted a rig to drill its Eagle oil exploration target and is considering a second exploration well. CGX has a concession offshore roughly between the mouths of the Corentyne River to the east and the Demerara River in the west and is clearly optimistic about its findings so far. The group last month announced commitments for a US$8M financing increasing its working capital to US$11M, the statement said. Mr Kerry Sully, President and Chief of Executive Officer of CGX said this is "a major step in a remarkable programme." He said that in less than two years since obtaining its concession, "CGX has completed an 1800 km seismic survey, brought four world-class targets to drill-readiness and has arranged financing and rig commitments for a hole on the Eagle target." Sully said CGX is also considering a second exploration well on the Wishbone West target at an estimated incremental cost of US$4.8M and is continuing discussions with oil and gas companies on participation in both wells. This is the first time in seven years that a firm has reached the stage of drilling for oil here. Contacted yesterday, Mr Newell Dennison, head of the Petroleum Unit in the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission, said the Guyana Hunt Oil company, based in Texas, drilled an exploratory well on land at Takutu in the southern Rupununi region in November 1992. But that was a dry hole and Hunt Oil withdrew from its Guyana concession in March 1993, he said. The CGX concession also covers the coastal onshore area generally between the two rivers, Dennison said. Mr Warren Workman, CGX Vice President for Exploration said the Eagle target had initially been identified in studies by previous explorers in the region. Further seismic and other studies by the firm have confirmed that Eagle and Wishbone West "are potentially giant fields", he said in the statement. Eagle is the largest, a 60,000-acre feature with 29,000 acres above an apparent hydrocarbon/water contact, the group reported. The target depth is 12,000 feet. Eagle and Wishbone West are 135 km from shore in 270 feet of water. CGX said it has chartered the C.E. Thornton Drilling Rig from R&B Falcon Corporation of Houston, Texas. The C.E. Thornton is ideally suited for this programme, it explained. Project management will be provided by Apex Energy Consultants of Calgary, Alberta and rig and onshore supervision will be by R&B Falcon International Engineering Services of Houston. The contract is subject to rig inspection by CGX which is scheduled to be completed in 14 days. CGX holds a 100 per cent interest in a 15,464 sq km (3,800,000 acre) exploration licence here. The giant Exxon oil firm is also exploring for oil in deeper water (200-2,000 metres) offshore in the swathe between the Guyana-Suriname border and the Guyana-Venezuela border. AGIP, the big Italian oil firm and Repsol, the Spanish multi-giant, are also in an offshore concession here.
|