PM Rowley aggressively seeks fair share of revenue earned from country's oil resources

PM Rowley aggressively seeks fair share of revenue earned from country’s oil resources

Feb 04, 2020 News

By Kiana Wilburg reporting from Trinidad and Tobago

Trinidad and Tobago is poised to participate in the exploitation of hydrocarbons in marine areas off the Guyana-Suriname basin should its efforts to extend the limits of its Continental Shelf be successful.

Trinidad and Tobago’s Prime Minister, Dr. Keith Rowley

Making this disclosure yesterday at the opening Ceremony of Trinidad and Tobago’s Energy Conference was T&T Prime Minister, Dr. Keith Rowley.
The official said that the country’s claim is to be presented to the United Nations Commission this year and if successful, would extend the country’s maritime jurisdiction seawards to areas in proximity to the oil rich Guyana-Suriname Basin.
The Prime Minister was keen to note that exploration successes for oil and gas, particularly in Guyana, have radically changed the perception as well as interest in the region.
Dr. Rowley said that the region, with justification, is now being heralded as the next major oil and gas province. He said that this has generated unprecedented interest by upstream companies in the region. Guyana has been the main recipient of investment in exploration and development by these companies, he added.
It is estimated that the discoveries in Guyana hold cumulative recoverable resources of over eight billion barrels of oil equivalent.
And spurred on by this Guyana success, Dr. Rowley noted that there is exploration activity along the length and breadth of the Caribbean and with some success. In this regard, he highlighted that US Corporation, Apache Oil and Gas, recently announced a major oil find off the coast of Suriname.
With an estimated resource potential of 13.6 billion barrels , the United States Geological Survey ranks the Guyana-Suriname Basin second in the world for prospectivity among the world’s unexplored basins and 12th for oil among all the world’s basins – explored and unexplored.
Outside of Guyana and Suriname, Dr. Rowley said that other Caribbean countries are seeking to capitalise on the interest shown in the region by the investing energy companies.
In this regard, he pointed out that Barbados has granted licences to the Australian multinational conglomerate, BHP to explore off its South-East Coast and to the Spanish company Repsol to explore to the Northwest of the island.
In the meantime, Tullow and its partners continue to prospect on a huge block to the south of Jamaica on the Pedro Banks, while the Bahamas Petroleum Company is conducting exploration to the South-West of Andros Island.
He also reminded that Global Petroleum Group has found some gas close to Grenada’s maritime border with Venezuela.
Considering the foregoing developments, the Prime Minister was keen to note that Trinidad and Tobago, with its long history in the industry, is well poised to assist the new entrants being Guyana, Grenada, Barbados, Jamaica and the Bahamas, in the development of their petroleum sectors.
He said that to date, Trinidad has entered into Memoranda of Co-operation with Guyana, Grenada and Barbados for provision of technical assistance. He also noted that preliminary discussions are in their early stages on the development of Unitization Agreements with Grenada and Barbados for the exploitation of hydrocarbons reservoirs that extend beyond our respective maritime borders.
The Prime Minister said that Trinidad and Tobago by virtue of its location has an opportunity to provide logistical and offshore support to operators in the emerging Caribbean Oil and Gas economies.
He said that this will require the expansion of the country’s marine infrastructure on its South East Coast.
Dr. Rowley said that active consideration is being given to the expansion of the Galeota Port to meet the demand for services that will be generated by exploration in new marine blocks on the South East and East Coasts of Trinidad and Tobago and in offshore oil and gas developments in the Guianas and other Caribbean countries.
Dr. Rowley noted that a Request for Proposals (RFP) was issued for the expansion of the Galeota Port and the responses are currently being evaluated.

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