Quality of oil found is not light sweet crude

Dean Barrow

In late March, there was the announcement of a showing of oil in the Orange Walk district, and a statement that testing to determine if it was commercial would take somewhere in the region of two weeks. So there was speculation of an oil bonanza announcement. But there wasn’t at the P.M.’s press conference since Maranco Limited has run into some problems; first with salt water seeping into the well, and then with the acid used to clean up the drilling mud interacting with the oil to create sludge. Long story short, there is work being done to deal with the salt water and the sludge, and then there’ll be more testing to determine if the well is commercial, and to what extent.

Prime Minister Dean Barrow

“Mr. Marriott tells me that in his view it is, but of course, there’s commercial and then there’s commercial, so precisely how commercial it is will not be known now until these processes are completed and that’s going to take another couple of weeks. Believe me when I ask you to bear strain and have patience, it is because I myself have been exercising a formidable degree of patience coupled of course with prayers…not least because I see Mr. Dylan Reneau giving me what looks suspiciously like an evil eye from the back there. A lot is riding on this including our ability to deliver to our much beloved teachers and public officers.”

The Prime Minister mentioned in his report that the quality of oil found is not the light, sweet crude found by BNE in Spanish Lookout in the Cayo District. But other than that, it’s back to the waiting game.