,600 sq miles. Six years later in 1955 Gulf drilled the first wildcat at Yalbac on an “anticline” which is exposed and defined by photogeological studies.
In 1956 and 1957 Gulf, which entered into a partnership with Shell in 1957, drilled four more wells in northern Belize. In 1958 Gulf transferred its ownership to Bandini Petroleum Co., which in turn assigned its rights to Phillips. In the same year, Gulf drilled four more wells, and Phillips began its exploration activity in southern Belize by drilling two wells on land in 1959. In 1961, Phillips drilled the deepest well in Belize, in the southern offshore, named 1 Palmetto Caye 1. The fourth well, also in the offshore, was drilled in the same year. In the next year, Phillips drilled three more wildcat wells, which turned out to be wells drilled for stratigraphic-structural information. Phillips drilled its eighth test well in southern Belize on land in 1963.
In 1967, Shell now called Belize Shell Development Co., in agreement with Phillips, drilled two wells in the offshore on two islands. Gulf, Phillips, and Shell carried out surface geological, photogeological, aeromagnetic, gravity, and seismic reflection work. other notable companies which contributed significantly are Anschutz, Exxon, Chevron, and Placid.
Anschutz drilled its first exploratory well in northern Belize in 1972. Six more wells were drilled in northern Belize in 1972 and 1973 by Anschutz, whereas Chevron commenced drilling an offshore well in 1974. In 1977 Exxon drilled two wells in southern Belize, one offshore and another on land. Exxon drilled one more well on land in southern Belize, and Anschutz drilled two offshore wells. Placid drilled four wells on land in northern Belize during 1981-82. The present position is that most of the offshore area up to the territorial waters is held by Central American, Pan American, Anschutz, and Petromar.
Belize Petroleum Revenue
|Table 2. Belize Revenue from Spanish Lookout Oil Field|
|Income Tax Royalty GOB WI GOB Prod. TotalYear Share($US) ($US) ($US) ($US) ($US)|
|2006 $6,137,946.98 $2,877,266.91 $9,015,213.892007 $8,472,141.17 $4,943,117.78 $13,415,258.952008 $12,118,034.17 $8,182,898.67 $3,077,116.00 $334,421.00 $23,712,469.842009 $10,200,744.92 $6,087,522.00 $4,118,135.57 $441,915.61 $20,848,318.102010 $21,037,494.36 $8,102,902.35 $29,140,396.71|
|Total $57,966,361.60 $30,193,707.71 $7,195,251.57 $776,336.61||$96,131,657.49|
Treaty Energy Oil In The News
A small company called Treaty Energy Oil has been doing limited oil exploration in Belize and issuing frequent, upbeat press releases. In January 2012 it issued a sensational press release stating it had stuck oil in southern Belize and discovered a new oil field containing some 6 million barrels of oil. Many radio and television stations in Belize and even media in North America carried this press release. The claim turned to be false and was refuted by both the country’s Prime Minister and the Belize Ministry of Natural Resources. Belize Government Says Treaty Energy Oil Strike Claim Is Bogus.
Updates On Oil Revenue Sharing Agreements
In a television interview on 11 June 2012 CEO in the Ministry of Petroleum Colin Young gave an update on the Maranco oil find and current oil revenue sharing structures.
R. COLIN YOUNG
“In terms of the Maranco oil find in the South Canal Bank #1 well, the company has completed its testing. Unfortunately they had some technical difficulties while doing that but they believe that what they have seen is good enough to report to the Department of Geology that they will proceed to drill an appraisal well as allowed under their production sharing agreement that allows them about 18 months to complete it and after that process they will be able to indicate whether or not the field is commercial or not. Appraisal well is where they dig a well where they initially found some oil, what they need to do now is drill another well that will allow them to collect additional information such as the amount of oil, the size of the potential field; they can dig up to three of those wells. Af