President Donald Ramotar on Friday visited the two offshore oil rigs, REPSOL and CGX offshore Guyana, and he has expressed optimism for an oil discovery.
President Ramotar was able to observe operations on board both rigs and view promising samples on the REPSOL rig, the Government Information Agency (GINA) reported.
He reiterated his optimism for the rigs being here and expressed the hope of all Guyanese that they would both strike oil, GINA stated. The president was accompanied by First Lady Deolatchmee Ramotar, Minister of Natural Resources and the Environment Robert Persaud, and other officials.
The United States Geological Survey has ranked Guyana as having the second most attractive under-explored basin in the world, with a possibility of 15.2 billion barrels of oil. If a finding was to be made, production targets would be estimated at 50 million barrels per year, which would be about 140,000 barrels per day.
REPSOL began offshore drilling of the Jaguar-1 well in Guyana on December 5, 2011, and could take up to six months to reach the targeted depth.
CGX’s Eagle well is being drilled by the Ocean Saratoga semi-submersible rig, and should be completed in two months at about 14,200 feet. It arrived in Guyana in February.
REPSOL has spent nearly $52M of an envisioned goal of $180M in expenditure, while CGX is expected to spend $55M. CGX is drilling in the same spot it was evicted from by Surinamese gunboats 12 years ago.
