Head of the Guyana Office for Investment (GO-Invest) Owen Verwey has said that his reported revelation in Europe that Guyana will this week announce another oil find was “speculative” and that his agency does not have the authority to announce oil discoveries.
“The article quotes me as suggesting that there will be another significant announcement in oil discovery soon. As you are aware, all official announcements about the oil and gas industry can only be conveyed by the relevant authority, which is the Department of Energy within the Ministry of the Presidency. I wish to indicate that my comment was speculative,” Verwey told a press conference, held at Duke Lodge, Georgetown, while referring to a report in the Petroleum Economist.
The Petroleum Economist last week quoted Verwey as telling the recent SPE Offshore Europe conference, which was held in Aberdeen, United Kingdom, that this week another oil find will be announced by Guyana. “There have been some big discoveries and, by next Friday, we will be announcing another one,” the article quoted Verwey as saying. It added that he could not give more detail at that stage. “We are one of the hottest destinations for the oil and gas industry right now and that is set to continue,” he was quoted as saying.
However, sources close to the oil and gas sector say that while Verwey may have spoken out of his realm, preliminary readings from Tullow’s Joe-1 well that is currently being drilled offshore Guyana “shows similar play” to that of its successful Jethro-1 well and it is anticipated that oil could yet again be found in commercial quantities. How-ever, one source cautioned that “until that drilling is complete, it would callous to announce a find.”
When contacted by this newspaper, Tullow’s Head of Communications George Cazenove said, “We haven’t made any statements on this and I can’t comment until we do so.” He also added that it was “not clear” in the article what well Verwey was referring to.
Meanwhile, pressed on whether the article misquoted him or if the report was correct, Verwey replied, “The Department of Energy of the Ministry of the Presidency is the only authority that can speak when it comes to oil matters pertaining to Guyana. There is no one else that can speak on that. My entity doesn’t have the responsibility for that. We have responsibility for promoting Guyana as an investment destination. So whatever promotional activity and comments that are made at those activities, are either speculative…,” he said.
He stressed that “when comments are made, only the Department of Energy information is relevant when it comes to the oil and gas industry.”
He further added, “We were promoting Guyana, and in promoting Guyana in ways like that, there is no way we could know exactly whether something or what is not in that industry.”
In mid-August, the UK-headquartered Tullow announced the discovery of oil in commercial quantities in its Orinduik Block offshore Guyana. Its first exploration well, Jethro-1, is estimated to hold more than 100 million recoverable barrels of oil. Tullow spudded the Jethro-1 well on July 4th this year. The company started drilling a second well, Joe-1, last month.