Page 9 - LatAmOil Week 35 2022

LatAmOil GUYANA LatAmOil

The analyst indicated that Holzman had at Orinduik and made only tertiary discov-
informed him that Tullow and its partners eries of heavy crude at the Joe and Jethro sec-
were preparing to submit a list of their drilling tions of the latter block in 2019. Green recently
commitments at Orinduik and were set to do described the outcomes of those drilling cam-
so before the end of the year. He had said just paigns as unexpected and not entirely satisfac-
a few weeks ago that Tullow was expected to tory, but pointed out that exploration work had
declare its drilling commitments before the end continued.
of the third quarter of this year but noted that the Moreover, he noted, the disruptions to world
partners were still defining the geological mod- energy markets that have resulted from the Rus-
elling, 3D processing, prospects maturation and sia-Ukraine war have led Tullow to reconsider
upgrading of their selection of drilling targets. development of Jethro, which was initially
In the meantime, OilNOW.gy noted, the first dismissed as a non-commercial find. The field
three-year exploration period of the licence for appears to contain more than 100mn barrels and
the Orinduik block is due to expire on Janu- may be worth developing under current price
ary 13, 2023. Tullow and its partners intend to conditions, he said.
renew the licence for another three years, during Green also pointed out that a new compe-
which they must drill at least one new explora- tent person’s report (CPR) issued for the block
tion well. They must also relinquish 20% of their in March of this year had raised the best gross
original acreage as of January 14, 2023, in line prospective resource estimate for the licence
with the terms of their agreement with Guyana’s area from 5.1bn barrels of oil equivalent to 8.1bn
government, shaving about 360 square km from boe. Eco Atlantic’s net share of the revised total
the 1,800-square km Orinduik block. is 681mn barrels of crude and 544bn cubic feet
Eco Atlantic has said it expects the cost (15.41bn cubic metres) of natural gas, he said.
of drilling the next exploration well to reach Equity in Orinduik is divided 60% to Tullow,
$30mn. the operator; 25% to a joint venture between
To date, Tullow and its partners have yet to Qatar Energy and France’s TotalEnergies; and
replicate ExxonMobil’s success at the Stabroek 15% to Eco Atlantic. The licence area is about
block. They have not found find any light crude 170 km from shore. ™

Bank of Guyana works with local insurers

to form consortium for oil spill coverage

THE Bank of Guyana has confirmed that it is
working with local insurance companies to
assist in the establishment of a consortium to
provide coverage for the government in the
event of a crude spill at Stabroek, the offshore
block that is home to the country’s only produc-
ing oilfields.
Gobind Ganga, the bank’s governor, told
Kaieteur News on August 25 that he had met
recently with representatives of Guyanese
insurers to discuss the matter. He described the
meeting as “fairly short” and said he had spo-
ken mostly about the need for the companies to
develop a model for distributing coverage, since
no single local firm can cover a policy of the size
necessary to compensate for a spill at Stabroek. Bank of Guyana governor Gobind Ganga (Photo: DPI.gov.gy)
“What I asked them to do is to go back and get
a simple model for me with everyone’s involve- consider following Ghana’s example with respect
ment.[That] is the consortium,” he commented. to setting up a consortium of local insurers to
Ganga also said he had given the companies a provide the government with coverage while
deadline. Specifically, he stated that he had asked also meeting local content requirements. He did
the insurers to “come back with a more efficient, not mention what was most attractive about the
acceptable inclusive model in terms of setting up Ghanaian model in particular but suggested that
the consortium for the pooling and they could this path had the potential to improve the per-
come back to me within two weeks.” formance and efficiency of the insurance sector
Additionally, he said that Guyana might in Guyana.

Week 35 31•August•2022 www. NEWSBASE .com P9