Perenco Oil Company Digs For Black Gold In O/W
Belize is a small Central American country that has always been dependent on imported oil but over the last few years oil exploration companies have invested their time and efforts to locate crude oil within the country. One such company is Perenco Limited which is an Anglo-French-owned; Guatemalan based multinational oil and Gas Company that is currently under operations. The Company ’ s activities are well known as work is constantly in progress in the northern region. Here in Orange Walk the company is getting ready to drill for black gold approximately two miles out of the Village of Chan Pine Ridge. And there is where the first part of our story starts today.
Janine Ayuso- Reporting
Perenco Belize Limited holds two licenses for oil exploration onshore and offshore. The first, Block-A, covers 3,250 square kilometres of land and sea in the Corozal, Orange Walk and Belize Districts and the second, Block-B, mostly-offshore, covers 1,170 square kilometres.
Here in Orange Walk the oil company is getting ready to drill for black gold in the Chan Pine Ridge Area. Today we visited the area located about a quarter mile before the Village of Chan Pine Ridge where a 1500 hoarse powered drilling rig was being erected to explore for crude oil.
According to the company’s Senior Drilling Supervisor, Maurice Copan, over the past few months seismic testing’s were conducted along rural roads to analyze the surrounding area for natural gas reserves.
Maurice Copan, Senior Drilling Supervisor
“Seismic testing is the red lines that they call the 2 D lines and then they drill and they make a shot about every thirty feet and when they take a shot they have a machine that records the time it takes for the shot to go down to the formation and go back up and that gives them a diagram and the faster the shot comes up the better it is to show us.”
The good news is that the results of the seismic testing have marked the rich ground as a possible location for a new oil reserve.
Maurice Copan, Senior Drilling Supervisor
“They have done previous test and they hope to get oiler this is their best chance. First we have to drill the well and if there is sufficient quantity then you set up a battery and you drill more wells and then you set up a tank farm and then I believe in Belize they haul it to the coast.”
Drilling for oil is to commence in the next 4 to 5 days after the oil rig has properly been set up. Last year the company was granted a new exploration Block which area covers 1500 sq km and surrounds the Belize Natural Energy operations in Spanish Lookout.
In 2009 an agreement between Perenco Belize Limited and the Government of Belize was met on the amendment to extend Block-A Production Sharing Contract by 768 sq km. In the event that crude oil is found within the proximity all necessary processes for extraction will be put in practice. We will keep you informed on the oil company ’ s progress.
