Guyana is to step up a land search for oil because border difficulties have hamstrung offshore exploration plans.
Commissioner of the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) Robeson Benn told Stabroek News that the onshore areas of the Guyana/Suriname basin which include the coastal strip from the Corentyne to the North West District are being targeted along with the Takutu Basin in Region Nine (Upper Takutu/Upper Essequibo).
Benn had signalled the government's intention to offer for exploration the 10000 sq km Takutu Basin in the Rupununi near the Brazilian border in a recent interview with the Oil and Gas Journal in which he had said that prospective licences were available on a "first come, first served basis."
In 1980 Home Oil discovered hydrocarbons in an area in the western portion of the basin but not in commercial quantities. Almost a decade later Hunt Oil also drilled for oil in the basin but was unsuccessful, finally closing its operations in 1992.
Benn told Stabroek News that there had already been some interest shown by a Trinidadian company and that some of the companies which had drilled wells here in the '50s and '60s were now reinterpreting their data using the technology available today.
He added that the GGMC was encouraging companies to take another look at the areas of interest using geo-chemical techniques.
Benn also noted that some of the offshore concessions which oil companies hold extend onshore. This newspaper understands that this prevents Guyana from having “bid rounds” which involves the sale of the seismic information of a given area generated by a company which has undertaken a survey on a speculative basis.
When a concession has already been granted to a company, it is difficult for that company to be asked to provide access to its property and then be asked to pay for accessing the information generated.
Industry sources have also told Stabroek News that because of the logistical problems of getting to the Rupununi, the venture would only be attractive to the smaller oil companies.
Over the last few years, both Suriname and Venezuela have exerted pressure on oil companies operating in Guyana’s waters. In June of 2000, Suriname’s navy evicted an oil rig contracted by a Canadian company from Guyana’s waters.
Suriname is claiming the area of overlap in the offshore zone, and despite protracted talks between the two sides exploration activity in Guyana’s waters has been frozen and there is no immediate prospect of this resuming.
On the western frontier, Venezuela warned off several oil companies including Century and Exxon from searching for oil off the Essequibo Coast. Venezuela has an illegitimate claim to the Essequibo region and in recent years has intensified efforts to dissuade investors from putting money into the area.