The search for oil in Guyana’s waters is heating up with one company preparing to make a decision on having a rig mobilised to conduct exploratory drilling, Minister of Natural Resources and the Environment Robert Persaud said yesterday.
Over the past couple of weeks, the ministry had a number of engagements with the companies Andarko and Esso, who are actively engaged in the search for oil, with one very advanced “to the point where they are about to make a decision on having… a rig mobilised so that they can conduct exploration drilling in our offshore area,” Persaud disclosed at a press conference on Thursday.
He declined to say which company is mobilising, explaining that the company would make the announcement. The minister said that another company will have a vessel here in a couple of days to carry out seismic surveys. There will be three or four companies carrying out various exploration works in the quest to tap and to realise the hydrocarbon potential of Guyana’s offshore area, Persaud said.
Earlier this month, the Spanish oil company Repsol began a fresh round of 3D seismic surveys in Guyana’s offshore basin close to Suriname with a view to determining the hydrocarbon potential that may lead to a US$200 million drilling campaign after 2015.
The Spanish oil giant has hired the services of seismic surveying company Polarcus to carry out the surveys in the Kanuku Block offshore Guyana which will last for about 90 days.
The survey is due for completion on December 9, 2013. It will be done at a cost of US$35 million.
