Caribbean nation seeks first oil and gas production.

Looking for a new play? Tired of braving North Sea storms, Middle East heat and Caspian winters? Jamaica may have the answer to your problems as it opens its first oil and gas licensing round.
The third largest island in the Caribbean opened 22 offshore blocks and four onshore blocks to bidding at the first of the year, and it will close bidding on July 15. Officials hope to announce winning bids for its 1.1 billion boe potential in October. The nation hopes to hold its second licensing round in 2007.

During a show-and-tell session in Houston, Raymond Wright, group managing director of the Petroleum Corp. of Jamaica, said the nation's petroleum potential is similar to the northwest Java Basin. In addition, seeps show the existence of oil and gas and the island population and bauxite mining operations offer a ready market.

Chris Machette-Downes, project manager with Jebco Seismic (UK) Ltd., said nine wells have been drilled onshore and every onshore well had oil and gas shows, but none was commercially viable when they were drilled.

The major feature in the area is the north-south-running Montpelier-Newmarket Trough with source rock, which extends from land to offshore tracts. The offshore tracts up for bids are well away from areas in which boundary disputes might arise. Eighteen of the offshore blocks lie south of the island.

To the south of the west end of the island, the Walton Basin has seen two wells, both with petroleum shows, but much of that basin was too deep to drill in the 1970s when active exploration was going on.
Through the years, the 2-D seismic database has grown to 4,413 sq miles (11,430 sq km).

Like the requirements for other countries, Jamaica wants information that qualifies a bidding company to do the technical work and come up with the money to explore. That's one grading component. Another grading category will be the size and extent of the proposed work program. The third is the willingness of the bidder to conduct a complete evaluation of the hydrocarbon potential of the licensing area within 5 years, including the work program.

The government also would like to see proposals for employment and training for Jamaicans; health, safety and environment records for the past 3 years, a US $1,000 application processing fee and $55,000 for the data package.

More information about the Jamaica bidding round is available at the www.pcj.com Web site.

Comments