President Donald Ramotar along with Minister of Natural Resources and the Environment, Robert Persaud visited the ExxonMobil’s Head office located on New Market Street, Georgetown on Wednesday, March 04 where they were given a tour of the facility and briefed on the scope of its operations by the company’s Country Manager, Mr. Jeff Simons.
ExxonMobil, the largest public trading international company in the world, is an industry that is the leading inventory of oil and gas projects, and the world’s largest refiner of petroleum products. It has a long history of using science and innovation to find safer and cleaner ways of bringing energy to the world. The total area allotted to Exxon for exploration (the Liza Area or the Stabroek Block) covers 26, 806 square kilometers. The company intends to drill at a depth of 1750 metres.
President Ramotar, who was impressed with the size of the company’s operation, described the exploratory area as a “small village”, noting that it ought to take a lot of effort to manage and execute all logistics.
“I’m quite impressed with what is taking place, and looking forward to going out myself,” the President noted.
Additionally, Minister of Natural Resources and the Environment urged the company to ensure that the activities envisioned are within the specified timeframe.
Minister Persaud also stated that, “all government agencies are fully mobilised for an efficient and effective exploration”. The project is expected to be executed over a 10-year period with three periods including two phases in each period. Each period lasts for one to two years.
The scope of operations include a drillship, with approximately 200 crew and contractors; helicopter support, with two from Ogle including a utility and a Search and Rescue at all times; four support vessels and two shore bases running from Georgetown and Trinidad, and a waste treatment facility at the John Fernandes Site at Houston.
Guyana has been receiving a lot of international attention from huge companies, especially in the oil sector. The US Geological Survey said in 2000 that the Guyana-Suriname Basin has the second largest unexplored oil potential in the world after Greenland.
Guyana first struck oil in the 1980s in the Takutu Basin, and there is high optimism that oil will be found in commercial quantities.
ExxonMobil will now join other investors such as CGX Energy, Repsol, Anadarko Guyana Co, and Gas and Nabi Oil and Gas in exploring oil in Guyana’s offshore Atlantic basin. [Extracted and modified from GINA]
