Georgetown : Chief Geologist and Manager of Ratio Oil, Eitan Aizenberg, said the similarity between the Guyana Basin and the Levant Basin, which is located in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Israel, along with other favourable factors is what sparked the company’s interest in Guyana.
Aizenberg was making a presentation titled “Why the Guyana Basin?” at a public lecture facilitated by the Ministry of Natural Resources. The talk was held at the Theatre Guild Playhouse, Duke Street Kingston.
Aizenberg is considered the visionary behind exploration of the deep waters of the Levant Basin and is the prospect generator of the Leviathan natural gas discovery, the second largest gas field in the Mediterranean.
During the presentation which included an explanation of the geology of how an oil field develops, Aizenberg noted that comparison of available data in Guyana to that of the Levant exploration, showed similarities.
According to Aizenberg, like Israel, Guyana’s basin showed no signs of oil being found in earlier exploration.
Israel, who had a small oil production on the coast, had dug 28 dry wells offshore in 1999 before making the Leviathan discovery between 2010-2013. The find of 35tfc (trillion cubic feet) of methane, Aizenberg said, can supply Israel for some 60 years.
“We decided to copy the success of Leviathan to other countries. The two countries at the top of my list after making the study was Guyana/Suriname Basin and Mozambique and this was in 2011,” Aizenberg noted.
Ratio established its subsidiary Ration Oil Guyana Limited in the country in 2011. Ratio Oil is an investor in the Kaieteur Block which is operated by ExxonMobil.
Aizenberg noted that Guyana’s democratic state, English language and British based laws were also favourable conditions that led to the decision to invest in offshore exploration. “The similarity helped me to have confidence to go to the investors and tell them let’s take it,” Aizenberg added.
However, there are differences between the two basins Aizenberg cautioned. One being, the depth in which exploration is being conducted.
Unlike like the Levant Basin, exploration in Guyana is in ultra-deep waters. Ultra-deep production is costlier and pioneering, Aizenberg noted. Questioned about the practice of continuing exploration after finding dry wells, Aizenberg said, “It’s a very tricky business. It’s a very statistics business.”
Aizenberg was also questioned about safety in ultra-deep drilling. He assured, “The rules of how you drilled changed tremendously. There are more restrictions of what you can do and what you cannot do.”
The renowned geologist said he is confident in Guyana’s oil future. “I’m 99.9 percent sure that what you see now in Guyana is only the beginning of a huge, wonderful basin,” Aizenberg said.
Aizenberg’s presentation was the first of four public lectures that will be facilitated by the Ministry of Natural Resources for 2018. Minister of Natural Resources Raphael Trotman said the lectures are intended to engage Guyanese who are interested in the developments of the oil and gas sector.
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