Ramotar meets ExxonMobil exploration team

President Donald Ramotar yesterday met officials from ExxonMobil Exploration to keep abreast with developments as oil exploration offshore Guyana continues.

ExxonMobil Vice President of the US and Latin America Svein Utskot, Project Manager for South America Paul Brown and Manager of Public and Government Affairs of Latin America Milton Chaves  are currently in Guyana for their semi-annual meeting, the Government Information Agency (GINA) said.

The team was accompanied by Head of the Petroleum Division of the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission Noel Dennison during its meeting with the president. “The company is pursuing a drilling project on a deepwater offshore block through a joint venture with Shell and has since shot a large seismic survey which is soon to be examined as a guide for the future,” GINA said.

In an interview after the meeting, Utskot told GINA that if the investment is successful it will have a great impact on the Guyana economy. “I hate to speculate. We are in a risky business, not everything turns out good but if we find something large it will have a very positive impact,” Utskot said.

GINA noted that over the course of a month, Ramotar has met several investors interested in oil exploration and other projects here. Recently, he met with officials of international oil exploration company Repsol, which plans to drill the Jaguar Well through a joint venture with Tullow Oil, a London-based Company, CGX of Canada and YPF.

In September, the company was given approval to extend its operations deadline after meeting with the then president Bharrat Jagdeo. The release said Guyana is considered the second most attractive under-explored basin in the world with a potential of 15.2 billion barrels of oil; were a discovery to be made, production targets would be estimated at 50 million barrels per year.