ANOTHER CARIBBEAN COUNTRY JOINS THE OIL QUEUE

Yet another Caribbean country is ‘eyeing up’ its oil exploration potential. With Guyana now well established as ‘the next big thing’ in the global oil industry and Jamaica showing early indications of economically game-changing oil prospects, Barbados now hopes it will be next in line.

It’s not the first time that Barbados has attempted a foray into oil exploration and production, but this time could be the real deal, according to the ruling Barbados Labour Party administration of Prime Minister Mia Mottley.

The government now reports that it hopes to tap into an estimated 13+ billion barrels of oil offshore, with over 40 trillion cubic feet of natural gas waiting to be extracted. Bids are being sent out to global companies with the requisite expertise to determine the commercial potential of these fields.

Barbados currently produces about 1000 bpd (barrels of oil per day), which is minuscule by international comparisons. That  crude product is sent to Trinidad for refining, with gas sold to the country’s National Petroleum Corporation for domestic use.

OPPORTUNITY

Amid growing optimism about what this new outlook could mean for Barbados, Minister of Energy and Business Kerrie Symmonds said it presents an opportunity to reduce its heavy reliance on imported petroleum and create other investment opportunities.

“Certainly, it would run into billions of dollars, and the more protracted events, such as the crisis in the Gulf, the war with Ukraine and so on, the more the world has these types of difficulties, then the greater the value of oil and gas.”

Barbados spends on average US$ 400 million per year on its oil imports. A successful local production industry at scale is expected to significantly reduce that, with a long-term aim of turning the country into a net exporter rather than an importer of fuel.

Responding to concerns of whether dipping into the oil industry runs counter to Barbados’s high-profile global stance on climate change issues advocated by Prime Minister Mottley,  Energy Minister Symmonds stated: “We want to have companies that are partnering with us that have proven over their recent work that they are in the oil and gas sector, but they are also good stewards of the environment, that they are conscious of the climate challenges, and that their capacity is such that they can be aligned to what Barbados’s objectives are.”

HISTORY

According to the Barbados Ministry of Energy and Business, historically, the country has had a long record of oil drilling “dating as far back as the eighteenth century when oil was collected from hand-dug pits.”

In more recent times it says, four oil companies have explored Barbados’ oil fields since 1950 with varying commercial success. Gulf Oil Co. drilled six deep exploration wells using modern concepts and techniques, achieving only limited success. In 1965, General Crude Oil Company started their operations, and sixteen exploration wells were drilled island-wide by 1972 and twenty-nine production wells were located at the Woodbourne oil field with a production rate of 760bpd. Mobil Oil Co. acquired General Crude in 1979 and commenced the drilling of five deep test wells with no commercial success. The government of Barbados formed the Barbados National Oil Company Limited (BNOCL) in 1982, which continued to develop the Woodbourne field and surrounding areas.

There are about 240 oil and associated gas wells onshore Barbados, of which 80 to 100 produce at any one time, according to the Barbados Ministry of Energy and Business.