FOLLOWING its indications earlier this month that there is likely oil offshore Jamaica’s waters, United Oil & Gas Plc top brass have headed to the United States for “several meetings with some of the major oil companies”.

This is the word from Minister of Energy, Transport and Telecommunications Daryl Vaz.

The development is the latest following a recent statement by United Oil & Gas Plc signalling that it has identified potential thermogenic hydrocarbons in piston core samples from its Walton-Morant Licence offshore Jamaica, representing “an established body of evidence for an active petroleum system in Jamaica”.

That update from United Oil & Gas Plc, which is the company which holds the exclusive license for the Walton-Morant Basin, St Thomas, followed analysis of piston core samples from the company’s recently completed Seabed Geochemical Exploration survey over the Walton-Morant Licence offshore Jamaica. According to the statement, the company has undertaken a geochemical analysis on the 42 piston cores acquired across the Walton-Morant Licence.

“The analysis has identified C4 and C5 hydrocarbons, including butanes and pentanes, in select piston cores within the headspace gas dataset,” United Oil & Gas said at the time, while noting that these higher order hydrocarbons are not typically associated with biogenic gas systems and are therefore consistent with a potential thermogenic contribution.

“There is an established body of evidence for an active petroleum system in Jamaica in general, and on the licence in particular, including repeat satellite slick anomalies, thermogenic hydrocarbon geochemistry from existing onshore and offshore wells, onshore and offshore oil seeps, and onshore surface outcrops,” United pointed out, adding that petroleum systems modelling suggests the presence of oil-mature source rocks”.

It said “taken together, the data is interpreted as consistent with an active petroleum system offshore Jamaica”.

On Wednesday, a “cautiously optimistic” Vaz, speaking at the weekly post cabinet press briefing at Jamaica House, said “the next step would be to drill one of possibly 14 wells”.

“One well would require a capital investment of between US$60-80 million. Now in the scheme of things, in the oil business, that’s not big money. The next step would be for United Oil &Gas to shop those results around to see if they can get any interest by these large companies who would then want to invest in drilling,” Vaz said.

“So far, based on the results and my discussions with United Oil & Gas, there are several companies that have already contacted them, some of which wouldn’t answer their phone calls a year or two ago; so that’s very encouraging”.

“I can indicate based on my discussions that if they were to raise the capital to drill, that wouldn’t happen until late 2027, going into 2028. So the government, once there is an agreement for an investor to partner with United Oil & Gas, they would have to come back to the government of Jamaica to re-negotiate a drilling component. Right now it’s just an exploration license that they have. So that will be another process, so again cautiously optimistic, but definitely encouraged, we know Jamaica needs some break coming on the heels of COVID-19, hurricanes Beryl, Melissa, and now the war,” Vaz said further.

He also assured that “any move to drilling would only take place after full environmental and social impact assessments, stakeholder engagement and relevant permits and Cabinet approval”.

“This is a careful, step-by- step process; the ministry together with United Oil & Gas continues to take a disciplined and evidence-based approach, ensuring that any decisions taken are grounded in sound science and in the best interest of the country,” he said. “The results are very positive because they have seen traces, they haven’t seen or touched the real deal, but it is still important because that is what will move to the next step.

“I am cautiously optimistic and praying very hard and I encourage every Jamaican to do the same because of what the impact of any discovery would be,“ he said.

– Alicia Dunkley-Willis

Chief engineer on the RV Gyre Brian Dolan (left) and Energy Minister Daryl Vaz exit the ship following a tour of the vessel, which is being used to conduct offshore surface geochemical surveys aimed at assessing Jamaica’s petroleum potential.