Apart from already resource-rich Guyana, Suriname, and Trinidad, Jamaica is the only other Caribbean Community nation which is very active in trying to find commercial quantities of oil and gas at a time when prices are high and the world market is volatile.
In recent weeks, the government and United Kingdom-based United Oil and Gas PLC have been forced to publicly reassure and calm an excited Jamaican public, stating that recent offshore geochemical exploration work did not mean that the island had at last found glory.
United Oil and Gas said that the work offshore in the Walton-Morant Bay area off South Jamaica had much to do with exploratory technical surveys linked to echo sounder works, heat flow probing data analysis, and piston core sampling of more than 40 seabed locations.
Once the company had announced the commencement of the surveying program, commentary from social media and some analysts had led to national excitement and anxieties to such an extent that Energy Minister Daryl Vaz was forced to issue a public statement asking Jamaicans for patience until indications are known.
The national excitement has much to do with the economic and financial windfall fellow Caricom member nation Guyana has experienced since U.S. supermajor ExxonMobil and consortium partners Hess Oil/Chevron and China’s CNOOC first announced a “world class” commercial oil and gas find back in mid-2015.
There has been so much oil and gas found in the Stabroek Block in a so-called golden lane near Suriname, that the deepwater area was developed so fast that first oil production was achieved by the end of 2019, a record for such a massive deepwater project, analysts had stated back then.
Today, Guyana is producing 900,000 barrels of oil per day from four projects with at least four more in the pipeline for development. In neighboring Suriname, the country is preparing for an oil boom thanks to some spectacular oil and gas finds by France-based Total Energies and Apache Corporation of Texas in early 2020. The treasury is also flush with cash and will, as well, benefit from current spiraling prices because of the Middle East war and the blocking of the Strait of Hormuz, through which around 20% of daily global production flows, officials say. Exxon says the Guyana Basin so far contains about 11 billion barrels of oil.
Guyana’s fast-growing oil sector has so energized other members of the Caricom bloc. Grenada is moving to dust off drawers containing previous seismic studies, while Barbados is signaling plans to attract the major companies to take a look at its offshore areas, near oil-producing Trinidad. The current Bahamian government says it is not interested in exploring oil or gas reserves because a spill or accident can ruin its marine and other lifeline tourism fixtures.
But, anxious for some resource that could spur national development at a rapid pace like Guyana and Suriname, Jamaica is the one that has so far successfully convinced oil companies that hydrocarbons lie below the seabed. This has triggered national excitement.
“So, once again, I caution everybody to be patient and calm and to listen to the government on this very sensitive matter. It will be two to three months before we hear anything, positive or negative, so we don’t expect to hear any rumors circulating about the discovery of oil or gas,” the minister said. “This is simply not a technical exercise. It is a meaningful step towards understanding the geological potential of offshore Jamaica. The data collected was state-of-the-art and will inform evidence-based decision-making about the country’s energy future.”
Minister Vaz says the core samples have been sent to American labs for processing, so Jamaicans must wait for the results.
The recent shout about oil and gas has a bit to do with local fishermen reporting sea surface seeps that were initially dismissed as engine oils from small vessels or waste.
Persistent reporting by fishermen led to a deep dive that had attracted Tullow Oil of the UK, but it abandoned the project in 2020 after completing 3D seismic and other surveys. In stepped United Oil and Gas, and while it has struggled to raise funds internationally, the company has shown faith in Jamaica and now awaits the laboratory results from core and other samplings.
United Oil and Gas Chief Executive Brian Larkin has tried to hide his excitement about Jamaica, but says the firm is pressing ahead.
“The recovery of seabed sediment cores at all 42 selected locations is a fantastic achievement,” he said, describing the latest developments as “a potentially transformational exploration drilling phase for Jamaica.”