IT WAS good to learn that Canadian-based CGX Energy Inc. and its subsidiary ON Energy Inc. have announced that their seismic survey in Guyana is well underway. At this time, nearly half of its programme has been completed.
CGX has been training over 100 workers in various aspects of the fieldwork while over 10% of the “shot holes” have been completed. CGX has recorded the first seismic images at its onshore concessions on the Corentyne Coast which it contends is the first since the 1940s.
In the meantime, the Guyana Government has brought its case to the arbitral tribunal appointed under the provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea which Guyana signed about eleven years ago. This decision was taken after CGX’s oil rig was forcibly removed by Suriname naval boats in 2000, and after years of fruitless negotiations between the Guyanese and Surinamese governments on the rights of Guyana to the Corentyne River area.
Most Guyanese were shocked by the disparaging remarks by Opposition Leader Robert Corbin who deemed the decision to call on the arbitral tribunal of the UN Law of the Sea Convention as a “diversion”. The least one would expect from the Opposition is the patriotic position always taken by all Guyanese, irrespective of political affiliation, to support the government of the day on border issues. Instead, his foot-in-the-mouth declaration hasn’t received any support and Guyanese generally understand two things: One, that it was necessary to move in another direction to solve the age-old problem with Suriname, especially after long delays and interminable double-talk from Suriname, where coalition problems seem to prevent any decisive positions.
The other is that it appears pretty certain that Guyana has oil. During the colonial regime, little effort appeared to have been made on the part of the Colonial Office to pursue this possibility, despite efforts by the local elected governments. For example, in the 1960s a Soviet oil team surveyed the possibilities of oil, but this was not pursued after the PPP government was manipulated out of office in 1964.
The hope that our country has oil, and after all, we are neighbors to oil-rich Venezuela, gives substance to this hope. It is obvious that the discovery of substantial resources of oil will enhance the country’s economy and the welfare of our people.
Let us hope for any early decision on the Guyana – Suriname maritime dispute and more successes to CGX in its oil exploration.