CGX Energy Inc today announced that the Ocean Saratoga semi-submersible drilling rig which will search for oil in Guyana’s waters departed the Gulf of Mexico on January 1st,and is now under tow to the Guyana-Suriname Basin to drill the Company’s Eagle-1 well.
CGX noted in a release that the Eagle-1 well will be drilled on the Company’s 100% owned and operated Corentyne Petroleum Prospecting License, offshore Guyana. It is anticipated that the Ocean Saratoga will arrive on location around the end of this month. CGX says it will make a further announcement when the Eagle-1 well has commenced drilling.
Stephen Hermeston, President and CEO stated, “We are pleased that the rig is now under tow and looking forward to the commencement of drilling.”
CGX Energy is a Canadian-based oil and gas exploration company focused on the exploration of oil in the Guyana-Suriname Basin, an area which it said is ranked second in the world for oil and gas prospectivity by the United States Geological Service.
And in a separate release, CGX announced that Guyanese, Professor Suresh Narine has been appointed to the Company’s Board of Directors.
CGX said that Professor Narine has an impressive academic career that includes numerous awards including the prestigious “Growing Alberta Leadership Award for Innovation” received in 2005 for pioneering the development of technology to produce polyurethanes from vegetable oils among many other accomplishments.
It added that in 2005, Professor Narine accepted a presidential appointment as the Director of Guyana’s Institute of Applied Science and Technology (IAST), a role which he maintains, together with his academic appointment as Senior Professor for Trent University, his alma mater, in the Departments of Physics and Astronomy and Chemistry and as Director of the Trent Centre for Biomaterials Research.
IAST is meant to be addressing biofuels and alternative energy sources and observers say the appointment of Professor Narine to the CGX board may raise questions in Georgetown.
On his appointment to the CGX Board of Directors, Professor Narine said according to the release, “Guyana currently spends more than forty percent of its GDP on imported fuel.
The country’s developmental trajectory has been significantly impaired due to this crippling dependence on foreign fuel. The spectre of domestic petroleum sources, however, is also accompanied by concomitant social and environmental risks – as a country Guyana needs to invest in the human capital and social structure required to ensure the proceeds of petroleum are managed for the common good, while ensuring that it continues to commit to a low-carbon development agenda, including alternative energy and materials development. I am delighted to therefore be on the board of CGX, a company which has clearly articulated its social responsibility to Guyana and its environment, and to playing an influential role in ensuring that Guyana’s approach to domestic petroleum is thoughtful and strategic.”
Professor Narine has been granted 300,000 stock options exercisable at a price of Cdn$1.05 until January 3, 2017, the release added.
