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UK investment firm expands influence in Guyana basin
The United Kingdom investment firm, Westmount Energy, continues to quietly expand its influence in the Guyana-Suriname basin by buying into various companies which have stakes there.
The company just this month announced it purchased 1,550,000 common shares in JHI associates, one of the early companies that had farmed into the Canje block and currently under media scrutiny for the suspicious circumstances under which the block was given away.
JHI has a 17.5 percent carried interest in the 4,800 square-kilometre Canje block, and carries immense value for its proximity to Exxon’s Stabroek block. The Canje block is estimated to have 7.1 billion oil-equivalent barrels. Westmount anticipates drilling to start in the block later this year at the Bulletwood-1 well, by the operator, ExxonMobil which has a 35-percent stake.
Westmount said, in a recent release, that the purchase takes its holdings in the company to 6.9 percent of its issued common shares.
The company said that the investment fits into its plan to seek opportunities in the Guyana-Suriname basin, a major emerging hydro-carbon province.
Companies like Westmount have entered the basin, having to do less to get in than license holders, since they buy into companies that have stakes in blocks, instead of buying into the blocks themselves.
Its stake in JHI associates represents 61.8 percent of the value of Westmount’s gross assets as at December 31, 2019, Westmount said. The remainder comes from interests in other companies in the basin.
The company also has small stakes in Cataleya Energy Corp. and Ratio Petroleum, each of which have a 25 percent stake in the Kaieteur block; and Eco Atlantic, which has a 15 percent stake in the Orinduik block. This means the company has small stakes in three of Guyana’s oil blocks, adding up to make it a lot of money now, and a lot more later.
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