The joint venture comprising CGX Energy and Frontera Energy, which has been searching for oil offshore Guyana, has no plans to drill any wells in the Demerara Block this year.
Member of the CGX Energy Board of Directors and Senior Technical Advisor Dr. Mark Zoback on Monday said that the companies will focus on further exploration at the Corentyne Block, where the presence of light oil and gas condensate has been confirmed.
“…that’s the highest priority,” Dr. Zoback said of further exploration in the Corentyne Block.
The confirmed presence of oil and gas resources was announced on Monday as the joint venture announced the results of the Kawa-1 well, drilled last year. That well has since been plugged and abandoned, with the joint venture moving to drill at the Wei-1 well later this year.
As per the Petroleum Prospecting License (PPL) and associated Petroleum Agreement, however, CGX Energy must drill two commitment exploration wells on the Demerara Block prior to February 12, 2023.
But with plans to focus on the Corentyne Block for the rest of this year, Dr. Zoback added: “…we will have to see what happens in Demerara overtime.”
He also noted that the company will also be engaging the government on its plans to explore and develop the oil blocks.
Both the Demerara and Berbice prospecting licences, granted in February 2013, are set to expire next February.
In a press release issued on Monday, the Canadian companies touted the potential of the Corentyne Block, which could contain large commercial oil like the nearby prolific Stabroek Block operated by ExxonMobil.
Chairman of Frontera’s Board of Directors and Co-Chairman of CGX’s Board of Directors Gabriel de Alba, via the press release, said: “The Kawa-1 discovery adds to the growing success story unfolding offshore Guyana and the integrated Kawa-1 well results further support our belief in the potentially transformational opportunity the Joint Venture has in one of the most exciting basins in the world.”
