Oil Exploration in Belize | Exploración Petrolera en Belice

[Shafick]

San Salvador / Associated Press

Belice encontró oro negro, y esta vez en cantidades mayores a las que en su historia había descubierto. Con eso abre las puertas para convertirse no solo en un productor de crudo, sino en un abastecedor para Centroamérica, aunque todo dependerá de la calidad y cantidad de producción que alcance. Darwin Anthony Gabourel, embajador de Belice en El Salvador, confirmó que su Gobierno celebra el hallazgo de un pozo petrolero que bombea en promedio 500 barriles de crudo diariamente.

Las autoridades de El Salvador están a la expectativa de los resultados de las exploraciones en Belice, pero tanto el Gobierno como los representantes del sector petrolero son cautos y advierten que es difícil que el hallazgo en el país vecino se traduzca en crudo más barato para Centroamérica, dada las condiciones del mercado internacional.

El primer ministro Said Musa informó a los diputados de la Asamblea Nacional de este hallazgo el pasado 3 de agosto. Las pruebas y excavaciones se realizan en la localidad de Spanish Lookout, en Cayo District, y este no ha sido el único hallazgo de pozos petroleros en Belice. La diferencia es que es el primero en representar un bombeo constante de decenas de barriles.

Según el diplomático, el petróleo está saliendo del pozo de Spanish Lookout desde hace un mes, y se tienen buenos indicios de que otros pozos puedan bombear igual o mayor cantidad de crudo. Afuera, en la costa hay muchas posibilidades de encontrar pozos grandes, afirmó Gabourel. “Estamos cruzando los dedos por que las otras excavaciones también tengan una buena cantidad de petróleo y lo podamos exportar”, agregó. Sin embargo, hoy por hoy, asegura el funcionario, la capacidad de bombeo es capaz de cubrir solo la demanda de los 300 mil habitantes con que cuenta Belice.

En los planes a largo plazo de las autoridades está construir una refinería, ya que el costo de enviar la materia prima para ser refinada es casi tan cara como importar el combustible. También está la posibilidad de que el petróleo sea exportado a los países de la región, lo cual dependerá del resultado de las excavaciones. Los estudios, las pruebas (incluidas sísmicas) y las perforaciones están a cargo de la compañía Belize Natural Energy Limited, con sus socias europeas Aspect Energy LLC y CHX LLC.

La exploración del territorio beliceño no es nueva. Desde hace algunos años se han descubierto pequeños pozos en la frontera con México y en Belmopán, la capital; sin embargo, su bombeo ha sido tan bajo que no ha llamado la atención de las compañías petroleras. “Habíamos hallado petróleo pero de baja calidad; las compañías veían que el costo no les daba para invertir. Hoy en día, como el precio anda bien alto, rinde más pensar en invertir en estos pozos”, acota.

[Atlas]

guau!!!

eso quisieron hacer en CR hace años, y después hace como 2 años, y nada. sólo encontraron barro y más barro...

[tejada]

Aqui en panamá hay una compañia gringa aliada con inversionistas panameños que creo que ya esta haciendo los estudios de impacto ambiental para buscar petroleo en Darien y en aguas territoriales panameñas.

[Shafick]

Me congratulo inmensamente por que nuestros hermanos beliceños hayan logrado este hallazgo.. determinante para asegurar el autoabastecimiento de crudo en el país... y luego desarrollar la industria para la exportación.

Felicidades Belice..!!!!

[Menandro]

Ufff qué super noticia...Ojalá y haya todo el pretróleo del mundo, y Centroamérica se pueda beneficiar a precios mucho más baratos...

Arriba Belice eje

[fredcalif]

lei esa nota hoy en la manana en el diario de hoy de San Salvador

[Shafick]

Dado que primero tienen que hacer los estudios necesarios y las inversiones de rigor... incluyendo una refinería porque en Belice no hay.... pasará un buen tiempo hasta que el país pueda exportar crudo a sus vecinos, sin embargo siendo Belice un país chico... sus necesidades de petróleo no son muchas... y una vez cubra la demanda interna... creo estarán listos para exportarlo.

[ChukieDiddieboppy]

Colegas, parece que los gobiernos centroamericanos estan iniciando o continuando exploraciones para encontrar petroleo porque hay cierta desesperacion por los altos costos del crudo. Hace como dos semanas el presidente de Honduras, Ricardo Maduro, decidio re-abrir todas las investigaciones para encontrar petroleo que se han hecho en Honduras. Hay dos areas con gran potencial: la zona de la Mosquitia y en la plataforma marina en el caribe hondureño, frente a la costa del departamente de Gracias a Dios.

Hace algunos años, durante el gobierno de Callejas ("El Bionico" con sus "Chicago Boys") se perforaron varios pozos en dichas zonas y se encontraron fuertes indicios de petroleo pero por razones financieras y legales dichos pozos fueron sellados. Ahora el gobierno de Maduro quiere continuar con las exploraciones ya que recientemente dos expertos rusos le informaron que despues de que ellos terminaron de revisar todos los datos de dichas exploraciones pasadas concluyeron que hay cantidades comerciales de crudo.

Hace poco un grupo de hombres de negocios de Guatemala en asociacion con hondureños presentaron un plan para construir una gran refineria de petroleo, para suplir la demanda en centroamerica, en la gran bahia de Castilla cerca del Puerto de Castilla en el departamento de Colon. La bahia de Castilla es 10 veces mas amplia que la de Puerto Cortes y ya existe un nuevo puerto de aguas profundas propicio para el anclaje de buques petroleros de tercera generacion.
Gracias.

Carlos V. Ramirez
08.11.2005
Riverdale, Bronx, NYC.

[Alvaro0127]

Wow excelente noticias para Centroamerica!! jajaja a ver si luego de esto Belice sigue pasando "desapercibido".... Ojalá que sepan usar ese recurso... y no hagan como "otros" paises...


Oops hice una ironia del mi propio país.. jijiji

[wally23]

Gran noticia para Belice.....que gran hallazgo....

[Shafick]

Originally Posted by alvaro0127

Ojalá que sepan usar ese recurso... y no hagan como "otros" paises...

Oops hice una ironia del mi propio país.. jijiji

[wally23]

Petroleo para todos

[panamared]

hay que buscar alternatibas al petrolio , creo que ya es hora de tratar de no depender tanto del petrolio .

[Will]

Que bueno para Belice, espero que el dinero del petróleo mejore la calidad de vida de sus ciudadanos.

Mi abuelo era ingeniero y según él es posible que haya petróleo en el Golfo de Fonseca. Que bueno seria si encontraran petrolero en cantidades de exportación!

[Shafick]

Este es un llamado para que Guatemala se ponga las pilas y determine de una vez una buena cantidad de crudo.. en la zona del Petén así como en Belice debe haber un manto considerable.

Lo mismo para la zona compartida entre Honduras y Nicaragua... y muy porbablemente en el Darién en Panamá.

[Apoc]

Yo pondria tu post de otra forma...

Originally Posted by Shafick

Este es un llamado para que Guatemala se ponga las pilas y determine de una vez si le declara la guerra a belice y les roba su petroleo

[Shafick]

Originally Posted by Masher

Yo pondria tu post de otra forma...

[Tillor87]

Baroness of the Belize oil fields

• Continuing a search for oil in the region, despite her critics, has paid off for Belfast-born geologist, Susan Morrice and her Irish investors

Irish investors are laughing all the way to the bank after striking black gold in Central America.

Hundreds of people from Northern Ireland and the Republic have just received their first payout after taking a gamble on a Belfast-born oil baroness.

Feisty geologist Susan Morrice silenced her many critics after defying the odds to strike oil in Belize on her first wildcat operation.

Ironically dozens of explorations had been carried out in the country over 50 years by oil giants including the likes of Shell and BP, but to no avail.

It took Ms Morrice, sister of former MLA Jane Morrice, years to privately raise the capital needed to fund the exercise - just one drill costs several million.

Josh Stewart, a former Belfast man and a director with Belize Natural Energy (BNE), said: "Investors who have never invested, have invested in this company on Susan's belief that there was oil there when everybody else said there wasn't... and at Christmas they got their first, significant and massive dividend."

Although it has been four years since the first oil strike it was worth the wait as some investors, who shared a pot of $10m, received payouts of up to $750,000.

And to cement Ms Morrice's belief that there was a rich source of oil in Belize, BNE declared its second oil field last month.

BNE is Belize's only petroleum-producing company and is pumping 5,000 barrels of oil per day from 10 wells at Spanish Outlook - with a gross revenue of $112m in 2008.

Although in the great scheme of oil producers Belize is a small fish in a very big pond, some geologists claim the country as a whole could produce 50,000 barrels a day.

But with the price of oil currently hovering around $83 a barrel, that still makes BNE pretty rich.

Denver-based Ms Morrice explained: "What happened was absolutely unbelievable, we started to drill and we hit the best oil in the world, light sweet crude, beating all odds. The oil is like the icing on top of the cake.

"At first we thought we had hit about six million barrels recoverable and with each independent engineering report instead of decreasing, it actually seems to be increasing and I think we are heading towards 20 million barrels of oil recoverable.

"Now we have just discovered a second oilfield."

The internationally renowned explorationist with decades of experience in oil exploration attributes her success to her 'entrepreneurial spirit' and 'can do attitude'.

She said: "I have been working in Belize since 1984 and I knew almost instinctively as well as scientifically that there was oil there. It just had to be found.

"I am not necessarily a better geologist than Shell or BP, it was a belief that I was right and no matter how many doubts - even from the biggest oil companies - I kept that invincible vision and if you do that, then you do not get swayed by the doubt.

"You have the odd moment where you think 'oh my God' but actually the dominant force is the way forward."

And energy is a common thread in the family as Ms Morrice is married to Alex Cranberg, chairman of Denver-based energy company Aspect Holdings. Another company of the couple's CHx, a private investment firm, is the joint venture partner of BNE.

In 2003, BNE negotiated a Product Sharing Agreement with the Government of Belize and that partnership has proved lucrative for both parties as BNE is now the number one revenue driver for the country.

Mr Stewart, who attended Methodist College, said: "We have been selling our oil onto Costa Rica , but we actually have a new partnership starting the first quarter of this year with the US refineries.

"We will be strengthening the Belize-US government to government ties so we are pumping all that oil into the US refineries which is a huge boost."

However, not only has BNE proved a financial success, it has also had a major impact on the local community in terms of employment, revenue, funding and social development.

More than $100,000 have already been donated to local schools and flood relief schemes after the company and its Irish investors signed a deal which ensured monies from oil revenues were spent on improving health, education and the environment.

And Ms Morrice is adamant that is why so many people from Northern Ireland and the Republic were prepared to back BNE.

She said: "I find in Ireland that a lot of people really want to make a difference. I think what attracted them into our investment was not only a belief in our vision, but a desire to make a difference in the country of Belize, which is very poor."

BNE's accomplishments have also provided employment for 400 people and created spin-off businesses.

Ms Morrice said: "What has happened is BNE has gone to the number one revenue generator in the whole country in less than three years; it's phenomenal, it's another unheard of thing.

"The entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well. Men who own their tank trucks come, fill up their tanks and take it down to the ships for export. Restaurants, grocery shops and little hotels are springing up."

Another scheme the company is involved in is the BNE Dream Trust, which will provide microfinancing and seed capital to help Belizeans realise their business dreams.

So the crude oil in Spanish Lookout has not only made Ms Morrice, a past recipient of the Distinguished Service Award from the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, a lot of money but it has allowed Belize to dream of energy independence and a better future for this poor nation.


http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/bu...-14632106.html

.

[Tillor87]

After the initiative of the Ambergris Caye Citizens for Sustainable Development (ACCSD) to extend an invitation to the Belize Coalition opposing drilling offshore and in protected areas (Belize Coalition to Save our Natural Heritage); the team comprising of Ms. Melanie McField of Healthy Reefs Initiative; Ms. Audrey Matura – Shepherd, Vice-President, Oceana; and Mr. Edilberto Romero of the Association of Protected Areas Management Organization (APAMO), along with Ms. Amelita Knowlax – Stand UP, Speak UP; visited San Pedro on Tuesday June 24th, where they held a conference in the confines of the Sun Breeze Conference Room at 5:30pm.

The general public was invited to actively participate in the seminar, which lasted about two and a half hours. Commencing was a presentation of the book, “Stand Up, Speak UP”, by Ms. Amelita Knowax. The book serves as a Guide to Public Participation in Belize, and provides detailed information on accessing public information and how to be actively involved in public decision making and clarification of very important laws pertaining to the Freedom of Information act, the Environmental Protection and the Ombudsman Act.

During the presentation, participants were invited to gain knowledge of the laws of Belize governing petroleum, drilling, collecting and the exportation process.

One interesting factor that stood out in the Petroleum Act was that, {3(1) the entire property in and control over all petroleum and accompanying substances, in whatever physical state located on or under the territory of Belize or in areas of the Continental Shelf in which rights of exploration and exploitation are exercisable by Belize are hereby vested exclusively in the Government of Belize. (2) Notwithstanding the provisions of substance (1), a contract may provide for a contractor to acquire property in, title to, or control over any petroleum within Belize. (3) subject to section 31, the provisions of subsections (1) and (2) shall have effect notwithstanding any rights which any person may possess in or over the soil on or under which petroleum is discovered.} Ms. Matura – Shepherd went on to elaborate on Section (3) of the Petroleum Act, “Any petroleum rights beneath your property are owned exclusively by the Government of Belize Section (3) of the Petroleum Act. Being that the Government owns it, they have the right according to section (2) to contract it out to different oil companies, and section (3) goes on to further disclose that if Government fells that there is Petroleum below your Property, then your rights to your land no longer exists.”

The financial aspect of oil exploration and exploitation in our offshore areas were covered by Mr. Edilberto Romero. He presented the ($) cost and ($) benefit comparison. While in his presentation, the financial benefit to the general Belizean population from oil exploration and exploitation is close to nil; what was even more disturbing was that environmental impact that oil exploration alone would cause to our natural environment.

The purpose of the seminar, according to Mr. Romero, was to provide information to the people in a summary format on the importance and uniqueness of the marine systems and the barrier reefs and the many services we get from them, such as the value we get in terms of fishers. Secondly, the economic value of our marine and barrier reef systems in comparison to oil exploration benefits in terms of what we stand to lose were explored. Financially, if all the oil companies are successful in producing oil at the level of Belize Natural Energy Ltd. (BNE), the Government will be getting US $209,000,000 per year. When compared with fisheries and tourism, this is still less than what we are making right now. Tourism presently generates US $150 – 196,000,000 for the country while Fisheries is responsible for generating US $164,000,000 per year. The other idea was to bring across the picture to people as far as what we stand to lose, consider the protection benefits we get from our reefs and mangroves against erosion and the devastating effects of tropical storms and hurricanes. Thirdly, the group was informed about the legal system that is in place that regulates petroleum exploration and production as well as discussing how our legal system is weak and does not offer protection to the people nor the environment and makes no provision for health risks and so forth. Currently the monitoring and regulation system is weak and the capacity is not there, so the country stands to lose a lot should oil exploration be allowed in our offshore areas.

Participants were very receptive to the information presented. In a telephone interview with Mr. Romero, he informed The San Pedro Sun that, “I think we did accomplish what we set out to. From the response of the people, they were more aware and knowledgeable of what the actual production of oil brings to Belize and what the threats are. I think they left with an awareness that it is not worth risking our marine and tourism industry.”

The Coalition is presently working on their website where, once completed, this presentation will be accessible for individuals wishing to become more informed.



http://www.belizemagazine.com/editio.../e09_05dam.htm

[Nikkodemo]

5 años después....¿Y siguen todavía explorando?