Exciting prospects offshore but should Guyana seek more oil on land? 

Vishani@newsroom.gy 

Guyana is viewed as one of the world’s newest oil hotspots because of prolific discoveries offshore but even so, Consultant Geologist, Fazal Hosein, believes that the country should also search for oil and gas resources inland. 

Hosein, who was one of the technical presenters at Suriname’s oil and gas summit on Thursday, explained that Guyana and Suriname share a geological space that contains bountiful oil and gas resources. 

And Hosein acknowledged that there have already been significant oil finds offshore Guyana and Suriname in recent years. These oil and gas resources have been found in the Guyana-Suriname basin, an area located beyond the northern coast of the two countries. 

In Guyana’s case, since 2019, production started at the prolific Stabroek Block. To date, oil has been pumped from two development fields – Liza Phase 1 and Liza Phase 2.

Guyana and Suriname are new oil and gas hotspots but can Guyana find oil onshore like Suriname has? (Photo taken from August Nelson’s study of petroleum geology in Suriname published in the Netherlands Journal of Geoscience)

Suriname’s offshore oil production has not yet started. For years, however, Surinamese oil company Staatsolie, has been successfully producing oil onshore at the Saramacca district, specifically in Tambaredjo, Calcutta and Tambaredjo-Northwest.

And Hosein believes that Guyana should follow similar onshore pursuits. 

“…for whatever reason, I don’t know, they aren’t pushing development or any kind of exploration at (onshore blocks) in Guyana.

“They need to follow Suriname’s example,” he said during his presentation at the summit. 

In the past, unsuccessful wells were drilled onshore at Guyana’s Takutu basin, which is located in Region Nine (Upper Takutu- Upper Essequibo); part of this basin extends into Brazil. 

Earlier this year, at Guyana’s inaugural Energy Conference, Natural Resources Minister Vickram Bharrat announced that there is renewed interest in searching for oil in this basin. He reasoned that new technology and equipment may be contributing to this renewed interest. 

To date, Guyana boasts of more than 11 billion oil-equivalent barrels offshore, a substantial amount with further exploration still ongoing. And Hosein posited that oil blocks, beyond the prolific Stabroek area, seem promising. 

“Deepwater blocks to the north remain prospective in Guyana and Suriname,” he said too.