Petroleum Dept. denies press reports of new oil find

The Department of Geology and Petroleum was quick to deny a report appearing in today’s Amandala that another well drilled by Belize Natural Energy has struck oil. Director of Petroleum Andre Cho told News Five that while the well near Belmopan, named “Never Delay Number One” did encounter some zones with petroleum, such has been the case with all seven wells drilled over the years around the nation’s capital, all of which were determined not to be commercially viable. Cho said the drilling will be completed and the data evaluated and only then would they know if they have a commercial find. Presently, the five operating wells around Spanish Lookout are producing in total an average of three thousand barrels per day. The price of that crude oil is indexed to that of West Texas Intermediate, which today sold at just under ninety-six U.S. dollars per barrel.