French company wins contract for Guyana’s reservoir audit -“It is something that we should have done a long time now” – Oil minister
Minister of Natural Resources, Vickram Bharrat
Kaieteur News – Minister of Natural Resources, Vickram Bharrat last week revealed that a contract has been awarded to a French firm to conduct a reservoir audit.
Earlier this year, the Ministry of Natural Resources issued Epression of Interest for “Consulting Services for Conducting Petroleum Resources and Reservoir Audit.” This process had initially attracted three proposals, Egyptian company Stratoil Energy Services, French company Beicip Franlab, and DeGolyer & Mac Naughton Corp (D&M) of Texas, USA.
The ministry’s advertisement stated that the Government of Guyana (GoG) has received financing in the amount of US$20 million from the World Bank (WB) towards the cost of the Guyana Petroleum Resources Governance and Management Project (GPRGMP) and intends to apply part of the proceeds to pay a consulting firm to provide advisory services, technical support and training and capacity strengthening services to the GoG.
It was revealed by the Natural Resources Ministry that the objective of the assignment is for the Consultant to provide advisory services, technical support and training and capacity strengthening services to the government, through the Ministry of Natural Resources, and the Sector Regulator – the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) or the Petroleum Commission (PC) once established – and other attendant Ministries with the aim of enhancing the country’s core capacity to review, approve, authorise, and oversee, monitor and report on the country’s oil and gas reserves and resources.
During his Mid-Year press conference last week, Minister Bharrat revealed, “A French company has been awarded the contract to do our reservoir audit. It is something that we should have done a long time now, but I’m happy that we’re going to start this soon.”
This publication had reported that during a May 2024 opening of tenders at the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB) office, it was revealed that Stratoil Energy Services bid – US$381,200 (excluding local indirect taxes), US$129,000 (local taxes) for the contract, and Beicip Franlab bid US$451,930 (excluding local indirect taxes), US$192,070 (local taxes).
This minister’s disclosure about the reservoir audit comes amid debates on the true figure of Guyana’s Stabroek Block reserves. According to Minister Bharrat the block’s reserves have only increased by 600 million barrels since the last official update in 2022, which placed the reserves at 11 billion barrels. This update comes despite ExxonMobil Guyana Limited (EMGL), the operator of the block, announcing eight new discoveries since then and Exxon’s partner, China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) stating that one of the eight new discoveries Lancetfish which was discovered in April 2023, averaged 100 million tons, translating to an estimated 746 million barrels of oil. CNOOC made the disclosure in its 2023 Annual Report which was released this year.
At the press conference, Minister Bharrat addressed an estimation by international experts from US analytics company S&P Global who recently put the current Guyana basin reserves at 18.7 billion barrels. Chairman of Wales Development Authority, Asgar Ally in January had said that some 15 billion barrels of oil have already been discovered to date in the Stabroek Block. Ally, a former Finance Minister and former Deputy Governor of the Bank of Jamaica was representing Guyana at the Jamaica Stock Exchange Conference held in January when he made the comments.
