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Twenty five companies in Barbados' oil bids
By Trevor Yearwood
The Nation
BARBADOS
Petroleumworld.com 06 12 07TWENTY-FIVE OIL COMPANIES from countries such as Russia, Japan, Norway and Brazil are in the queue to drill for oil off Barbados.
The big names include Exxon, Shell, BHP Billiton of Australia, Hess Oil Company, Anadarko Petroleum Corporation, Marathon Oil and Murphy Oil, all of the United States, Norway's state oil group Statoil, Petro-Canada, and Petrobras from Brazil.
They will all get the chance to put their money where their hearts appear to be on Friday, June 22, when Government officially opens the floor to bidding during a ceremony here. A second bid launch takes place in Houston, Texas, on Wednesday, June 27.
These latest developments in the offshore sector were detailed by Minister of Energy Elizabeth Thompson and chief geologist Andre Brathwaite during a Press conference at the ministry yesterday.
Thompson described the official bidding process that runs to November as opening up "a new economic frontier" for Barbados and providing the island with an opportunity to earn "substantial revenues".
Brathwaite reported that at his last count 25 oil companies had declared an interest in drilling off the island.
Based on "encouraging" data from seismic and geological studies, Barbados is looking to carve its offshore assets into between 20 and 25 blocks and offer licences for oil companies to drill in them.
According to Brathwaite, each block would be about 5 000 square kilometres in areas ranging to several miles off Barbados.
The news came against the backdrop of a survey by Norwegian company Wavefield Inseis designed to establish the major hydrocarbon prospective trends in the Barbados offshore sector, looking at areas such as the Barbados Ridge and
Barbados Trough."The survey will also tie together a modern, deep seismic data set that will surround the island and provide for important ties both to the onshore geology of Barbados and to Sandy Lane well located 145 km south of Barbados, just north of the border with Trinidad and Tobago," the company reported.
Thompson emphasised that oil companies, rather than the Barbados Government, would be financing the oil exploration projects. Government would be getting its money from fees charged on the bidding process and subsequent developments, she reported.
She also said Government was looking for companies with best practices in environmental matters to explore for oil.
Barbados has no offshore oil exploration. It has 240 onshore wells, producing a total of 1 000 barrels of crude oil daily.
The Nation 11 06 07
Copyright© 2007 The Nation. All Rights Reserved.
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