Anadarko Petroleum Corporation Inc says its next announcement of its future plans for the Roraima Block offshore Guyana will likely come after March next year when it discusses its 2014 capital budget.
The US petroleum giant had its laid out programme of exploration for offshore Guyana for 2013 abruptly halted on October 10, when a corvette from the Venezuelan Navy intercepted the seismic exploring vessel, MV Teknik Perdana and directed it to steam towards the Venezuelan island of Margarita. The MV Teknik Perdana was indirectly under contract with Anadarko Petroleum Corporation to explore the Roraima Block with a view to determining whether commercial quantities of hydrocarbon existed.
According to one of the company’s corporate reports for 2013, it had planned 2D Seismic surveys of the Roraima Block for 2013. It said too that Guyana had proven oil producing areas in which multiple play types had been identified.
John Christiansen, Director, External Communications Anadarko Petroleum Corporation told this newspaper last week that the company is continuing to work with the Government with regards to future plans and activities.
“We continue to work with the Government of Guyana, as this is a sovereign issue between it and Venezuela,” he said. “We completed our planned activity for 2013, and will likely discuss our future plans when we announce our 2014 capital budget in March of next year,” Christiansen said in an email to this newspaper recently.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett had reported that exploration activities by Anadarko were not likely to continue due to the ongoing discussions aimed at determining the steps necessary to bring a resolution to the ongoing border controversy.
And a source from within the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment confirmed that exploration will not continue during the current impasse and until such time that the controversy is resolved between the two sides.
In June 2012, Anadarko signed an agreement with the Government of Guyana to commence exploration activities in the Roraima Block.
Talks between the foreign ministers of Guyana and Venezuela resulted in a decision to have the countries’ technical experts meet in four months to discuss maritime delimitation. They also reiterated that dialogue and cooperation are the means for a peaceful solution of differences between States. However, the joint statement on the outcome of the meeting made no reference as to whether or not the exploration of the Roraima Block would be allowed to continue.
