A huge oil rig has landed in Belize - and is being transported in 60 containers to Blue Creek in Northwestern Belize where drilling is expected to start in October.
It is a concession area owned by Big Creek Energy, which has partnered with New World Oil and Gas for a major, multi-million dollar drilling venture.
It's particularly expensive because they have to drill about eight thousand feet down to find the oil field that they hope is there.
They've already done seismic testing and now, it's drilling time.
We found out more today from Alistair King, the Managing Director of Blue Creek Energy and Ernesto Vasquez of the newly formed BelizE PetrOleum Association:
Ernesto Vasquez - Belize Petroleum Association
"They have finally concluded that we've found an area where we think that there is oil in the ground. And after they do that, of course, they have to report to Government, and say, 'Well, we want to go to the next phase.' And the next phase is to drill the hole and look for the oil. So, that's where we are now, and arriving Belize, as we speak, is the oil rig, which is a huge - it's a huge tower - and you've seen pictures of it, I'm sure - where they are going to drill this hole into the ground."
Alistair King - Blue Creek Exploration
"Well, this rig - as Ernesto mentioned - came in last night. We're in the middle of offloading in now, and transporting it up to Blue Creek. Now, that whole rig there, comprises of about 65 trailer loads. So, it'll take a little time to get it up to Blue Creek. So, as these trucks unload, we have some craines up there are offloading them. They'll start to be stacking this rig up, and building it as they offload. And we'll put it together, and we'll test it, get the fuel up there, and by October 1, we'll be ready to spud, which means that we'll be ready to actually start the drilling down. We know, Jules, from the last time, RSM drilled 2 wells in the neighborhood, not in our licensed area, but next door to it, and both wells had oil in them. So, we know that oil is coming from Mexico and Guatemala. It's migrating down, and that's where the Spanish Lookout oil is coming from. So, we know that it's passing under there, but we have to make sure that we find a trap, and the only way we can find where it's trapped, is to drill. This area that we in, Northwest Belize, is totally virgin area when it comes to oil exploration. There's no seismic done there before. The seismic that we have done is the first seismic to be done in that area, so - and of course - we're not too far from the Giant Mexican Fields, the Shaan Field in Guatemala, which is now being declared a 300 million barrel field, and we know that oil is migrating, as I say. So, we just want to find the trap."
According to King, up to this point blue creek and new world have spent 6 million us dollars. The plan is to drill five areas - and they are starting in the most likely one - which is also the least remote.
There are four oil rigs currently doing oil exploration countrywide.
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