British High Commissioner to Guyana, Gregory Quinn believes Guyanese need not worry about the threats of alternative and other types of green energy to its emerging oil and gas industry, since demand will “continue to make what has been found here profitable and recoverable”—reference to the more than three billion barrels already found by US oil major ExxonMobil and its partners.
Ambassador Quinn was at the time speaking with journalists following a ‘meet the press’ forum held at his Bel Air Gardens Residence on Tuesday and was asked about the likely impact on oil revenues for Guyana in future, in light of alternative and other greener forms of energy.
He told members of the media corps, “yes we are moving to green fuel but that is going to be a long time in coming across.”
According to Quinn, while the “world’s oil resources are diminishing and that’s part of the push towards both newer sources but also alternative energy but I don’t think this is something that you need to be worried about, I think there will be enough of a market for oil in the decades going forwards.”
Oil prices in recent days have recorded the strongest opening to a year since 2014 with crude rising to mid-2015 highs amid large anti-government rallies in Iran and ongoing supply cuts led by OPEC and Russia.
The British plenipotentiary representative to Guyana was adamant, that to believe that oil will disappear as a source of power and energy in the foreseeable future is not going to happen, “there will always be a demand.”
Quinn told reporters, “I don’t think that there is any concern that by 2020, 2021 suddenly there is going to be no market, there will still be a market for oil, it is still worth pursuing.”
Only recently US oil major ExxonMobil announced another world class discovery – its sixth since an initial discovery in 2015 – from its Ranger-1 exploration well.
The Ranger-1 well discovery adds to previous world-class discoveries in the Stabroek Block at Liza, Payara, Snoek, Liza Deep and Turbot, which are estimated to total more than 3.2 billion recoverable oil-equivalent barrels.
Following completion of the Ranger-1 well, the Stena Carron drillship will now be moving to the Pacora prospect, 4 miles from the Payara discovery. Additional exploration drilling is planned on the Stabroek Block for 2018, including potential appraisal drilling at the Ranger discovery.
Guyana has inked a Profit Sharing Agreement with ExxonMobil and its joint venture partners securing a two percent royalty on gross production and a 50/50 split on profit oil.
The Stabroek Block is 6.6 million acres (26,800 square kilometers). ExxonMobil affiliate Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited is operator and holds 45 percent interest in the Stabroek Block. Hess Guyana Exploration Ltd. holds 30 percent interest and CNOOC Nexen Petroleum Guyana Limited holds 25 percent interest.
