Tullow oil find shows that more oil is out there
British High Commissioner to Guyana, Greg Quinn
British High Commissioner to Guyana, Greg Quinn

– says British High Commissioner

THE British High Commissioner to Guyana, Greg Quinn, has said that the Tullow oil find is good for Guyana because it demonstrates that there is oil outside of the Stabroek Block, which is operated by US oil giant, ExxonMobil.

Tullow Guyana B.V – a subsidiary of UK-based oil company Tullow Oil plc, had made its first oil discovery offshore Guyana at Jethro-1 well in the Orinduik Block.

Though the data from the Jethro-1 discovery is being analysed, the company’s spokesman, George Cazenove, told the Guyana Chronicle that it is likely that the well exceeds Tullow’s pre-drill estimates of 100 million barrels of recoverable resources.
“This demonstrates that there is oil outside of the Stabroek Block, which shows that Guyana’s potential is far bigger than that block,” said Quinn during a press briefing on Monday.

He said the find brings in a whole new set of companies, countries and operators. And the more operators, countries and companies which are involved in the oilfields, the better, he said.

President of the GCCI, Nicholas Boyer

Director of the Department of Energy, Dr. Mark Bynoe had said that the discovery in the Orinduik Block is another major development for Guyana. Like Tullow Oil, he believes that the discovery adds to the further de-risking of the deep and ultra-deep zone.
Dr. Bynoe noted, too, that the discovery offers significant potential for the diversification of Guyana’s hydrocarbon production base.

“The Department of Energy (DoE) is encouraged by the prolific rate of discoveries in Guyana and will continue to work assiduously and conscientiously to extract optimum value from these resources for all the peoples of our country,” he assured the nation.
Dr. Bynoe said the new discovery demonstrates the vastness of the country’s natural resources, and assured that all Guyanese stand to benefit significantly from the oil discoveries.

Overall, Tullow Oil has injected US$80M into the drilling of the three wells offshore Guyana.
With U.S oil giant ExxonMobil putting its gross recoverable resource estimate to more than six billion barrels of oil equivalent in the Stabroek Block, Cazenove said is cognisant of the country’s potential.

According to a Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) signed between the Government of Guyana, Tullow Guyana B.V and Eco (Atlantic) Guyana Inc, the country could benefit from as much as 60 per cent in oil profit, including a one per cent royalty once the explorations are successful and the companies start pumping for oil in the Orinduik Block.
Article 15:06 of the Petroleum Agreement indicates that a one per cent royalty is included in the government’s share of profit. “The government’s share of profit oil specified in Article 11 includes royalty payable by the contractor at the rate of one per cent of crude oil produced and sold, and delivery to the minister, pursuant to Article 14 of his share of profit oil equivalent to royalty shall constitute payment of such royalty in kind,” the agreement states.

When asked to comment on the agreement between Tullow and the Government of Guyana, Quinn said the terms of the contract is for the government and the company to talk about since it is a commercial contract.

President of the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) Nicholas Boyer, in his take on the contract, said there is need for a Petroleum Commission and Local Content Commission, which are insulated from political control. “If you notice with Exxon and Tullow you have varying terms…we need to move management of oil industry out of direct control of political actors and make it transparent,” said Boyer, adding that it is a position which he has always believed in. It was reported that Minister of Finance, Winston Jordan has called on stakeholders to submit nominees to be part of the Public Accountability and Oversight Committee, which would be tasked with ensuring that there is transparent spending of public funds.

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