And keeping it with the Ministry of Energy, Science and Public Utilities, last night at 7:15, as Prime Minister Dean Barrow wound up the budget debate, he announced that a major oil find had been confirmed by the Oil company Marenco in Northern Belize. And while it is good news, the PM stressed that the oil is under impermeable rock, and it is not a commercial find at this time:
Hon. Dean Barrow - Prime Minister of Belize
"Let me report that yesterday, just yesterday, Marenco completed the drilling and testing of the sub-canal bank well number 3 in Gallon Jug. As a result, they are now able to confirm that there is oil from a depth of 4009 to 4026 feet. The accumulation is between 2,500 and 3,500 acres in extent with a minimum of 50 million barrels of oil."
The PM added that enhanced recovery operations requiring significant capital and international expertise will be required to commercialize the find.
Today CEO Colin Young elaborated on the specifics of the oil field.
Dr. Collin Young - CEO, Ministry of Energy Science and Technology, and Public Utilities
"They obtained some recent results from the second appraisal well they dug in their concession area, South Canal Bank #3. Based on the information that we've received, they estimate that the area would cover about 2,500 to 3,000 acres, and that it potentially can hold up to as much as 50 million barrels of oil. However, I need to be quite clear that estimates of oil in the ground is different from oil that is recoverable, it is not a one to one ratio. You can have a case where, as I said, the amount of oil can be high in the ground, but the amount that you can actually get out can be very low, to the point where if it's too low, then it's not commercial oil."
A good illustration of why the Number of barrels is not a good measure of the quality of the oil field: Spanish Lookout, is a 21 million barrel oil field, and it yielded 1200 barrels per day, while Never Delay is a larger oil field but only yields 18 barrels per day.
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