Groundstar still seeking partner for Takutu oil search
Stabroek News, Wednesday, January 23rd 2008
Groundstar Resources Limited is still hopeful that another company will
partner with it for oil exploration and drilling in the Takutu Basin
and by July their plans should be firmly on the table, according to a
source in the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC).
This company, along with three others, was to have started exploring
for oil during the latter half of last year in the interior of the
country.
The source said that Groundstar was to have indicated by July of 2007
whether it was prepared to drill. "They had asked for a year's
breathing space at the end of which they would look for a partner to
join with them. They've done the groundwork and they've found prospects
that are drillable but they need a partner," the source said. The
source told this newspaper that by July this year Groundstar Resources
should be indicating to the GGMC what its intentions are with regards
drilling. The company is seeking partners to undertake a multi-well
drilling programme during the third phase of the work programme.
The GGMC is said to be in regular contact with Groundstar Resources, a
company which has operated a 9,800 square kilometre Petroleum
Prospecting Licence over the Takutu Basin of Guyana since July 2005.
The second phase of the project started in July 2006.
According to the company, the work programme will encompass
re-processing and re-interpretation of existing seismic data, detailed
geological studies, drilling logistics, assessment of routes to various
drilling sites, transportation and marketing evaluation as well as an
environmental impact study. The company said that three important
structural prospects have been seismically identified. This newspaper
understands that two fairly large, oil exploration companies are also
seeking to get a foot in the door of the GGMC with a view to being
granted licences in the near term.
According to this newspaper's source, the exploration is expected to be
near-shore offshore and their expressions of interest are being
addressed now. Under consideration by the GGMC is an offshore area for
the two companies.
According to the source, the GGMC is engaged with Repsol and Exxon and
is at the moment hammering out and further fine-tuning the particulars
of their arrangements that will take effect now that the Suriname
maritime issue with Guyana has been resolved. Time had overcome some of
these arrangements that had been put in place. "In a very short time we
will know if they will sign on or not, the source said.
This newspaper understands that Exxon is in a less complicated state of
affairs as regards their arrangements than Repsol but similar issues
for both companies still have to be ironed out. The GGMC has had to
alter the offshore concessions for the two large companies as part of
the process of getting them prepared for exploration work.
Sadhna Petroleum is a Trinidadian exploration and drilling company
which with Groundstar Resources signed agreements with the Government
of Guyana in 2006 for the exploration for petroleum products and for
the sharing of returns if the findings are in commercially viable
quantities. Sadhna Petroleum Inc should have been doing work in the
Mahaicony area.
But oil exploration and drilling for Sadhna have been put on hold for
now and that company is working on contract with the Guyana Water Inc
(GWI), drilling borehole wells on various coastal locations. This is as
part of a World Bank-funded project to bring water to the poor. (Johann
Earle)
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