current exploration activities.€¦ · petroleum industry in belize pursuant to the petroleum act...
TRANSCRIPT
1. Department Background.
2. Geological Setting.
3. Exploration History.
4. Production.
5. Current Exploration Activities.
6. Petroleum Potential.
7. Challenges.
8. Future Outlook.
The Geology and Petroleum Department which is in the Ministry of Energy, Science & Technology and Public Utilities is the Government agency responsible for the administration of the petroleum industry in Belize pursuant to the Petroleum Act and Regulations and the terms and conditions of the Production Sharing Agreements.
The Department is a fairly young Department established in
1984 but only gained petroleum experience since 2005 when the first commercial discovery of petroleum was made in Belize.
The Department has 12 staff members 8 of which are technical
staff who carry out the administration of the petroleum industry.
Exploration in Belize began in the 1930’s. The first exploration well was drilled
in 1956. Majors like Shell, Esso and Texaco explored for petroleum in Belize but
did not find any. Later only small independent oil companies were interested in
Belize and carried out further exploration which led to the first commercial
discovery of oil in Belize in the Corozal Basin in 2005 by Belize Natural Energy
Ltd.
Thousands of line kilometers of vintage and recent 2D seismic data have been
acquired most of which were acquired offshore and 182 square kilometers of
recent 3D seismic data were acquired within the last 8 years.
About 14,000 square miles of vintage and recent aeromagnetic and gravity data
have been acquired.
50 exploration wells and 8 stratigraphic wells were drilled during 1956-1997.
76 exploration and development wells have been drilled within the last 8 years,
60 of which have been drilled by Belize Natural Energy.
Belize Natural Energy Ltd. Spanish Lookout Oilfield (discovered in 2005) • 40° API gravity crude oil • 0.8% sulphur • current production is 2,100 bopd Never Delay Oilfield (discovered in 2008) • 38° API gravity crude oil • sour crude • current production is 16 bopd
Petroleum Companies with Exploration Acreages 1. Perenco 2. Pacific Rubiales 3. USCapital Energy/Hupecol 4. Maranco Energy 5. New World Oil and Gas 6. BelGeo 7. Providence Energy 8. Princess Petroleum
Maranco Energy acquired 153 line kms of 2D seismic and drilled 2 wells and made one discovery in April 2013. Maranco is currently carrying out appraisal of this discovery. Perenco acquired 288 line kms of 2D seismic and drilled 1 well, no discovery. New World Oil and Gas acquired 223 line kms of 2D seismic and drilled 3 wells, no discovery. BelGeo acquired 60 line kms of 2D seismic. USCapital Energy acquired 210 line kms of 2D seismic.
Perenco will acquire 293 line kms of 2D seismic and drill 1 exploration well. Pacific Rubiales will acquire 500 line kms of 2D seismic. USCapital Energy/Hupecol will drill 2 exploration wells. Maranco will drill 3 appraisal wells. Providence Energy will acquire 155 line kms of 2D seismic.
Onshore There are a number of other undrilled fault bounded 3 way dip closure structures identified from seismic in north western Belize where Maranco Energy made the recent discovery. In the south USCapital Energy has identified from seismic similar structures which will be drilled within the next year. There are also many oil seeps in southern Belize. Offshore Southern offshore Belize has good petroleum potential. There are a number of large undrilled structures identified from seismic. There is also evidence of probable offshore oil seeps. There are good reservoir and seal rocks onshore and only in the southern offshore region of Belize but no source rocks have been identified.
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Geological
Source rock.
Age of structures and time of migration.
Administrative
Human resources and capacity building.
Legal and fiscal frameworks.
Social and Environmental
Opposition to offshore exploration and exploration
in protected areas as a reaction to the BP oil spill in the
Gulf of Mexico.
1. Increase production to 10,000 bopd within the next 4 years.
2. Attract larger more competent oil companies to Belize to explore offshore.
3. Carry out institutional strengthening in human resources and the legal and fiscal frameworks to improve benefits to the country.
4. Develop exploration policy to harmonize exploration and the environment.
