aid. For a lot of the units, the type sections are just not there anymore,” King added.
In general, south Belize is dominated by the Maya Mountains, a rugged plateau with a thick section of deformed and metamorphosed Carboniferous-Permian sedimentary and volcanic strata, according to King.
A thin section of Paleocene-Pleistocene carbonates comprises most of the coastal plain in north Belize. A moderately thick section of Mesozoic strata, mostly carbonates, is found in the subsurface and in outcrops near the mountains.
In north Belize, the Lower Cretaceous Hill Bank formation appears as a shallow shelf carbonate unit that developed across the area before subsidence of the Chiapas-Peten Basin, according to King.
The Hill Bank, consisting of porous, tan to gray limestones and dolostones, may be equivalent to the lowermost Coban formation and the San Ricardo in Guatemala. The interbedded limestones, dolostones, shales and anhydrites of the Yalbac formation represent sedimentation on the eastern margin of the Chiapas-Peten Basin, which began subsiding during Early to Middle Cretaceous, King wrote.
In northern Belize, the Yalbac thickens to more than 3,200 feet, as shown by well control. King et al. believe the Yalbac is probably equivalent to the upper Coban formation and lower beds of the Campur formation in Guatemala.
Most of Belize’s 8,867 square miles of territory and much of the waters offshore have been allocated out in petroleum concessions to 18 different companies with a range of foreign shareholders from as close as the USA and as far off as Taiwan and even a local gambling den.
Belize Natural Energy (BNE) has one of those 18 contracts, and it remains the only company producing and exporting oil from Belize, since it found oil in Belize.
Apart from having a 36% stake in BNE’s half-million acre concession area within the Belize and Cayo Districts, it also has interest in the Toledo block of US Capital, as well as the West Bay block in Orange Walk.
Princess Petroleum Limited, belonging to the owners of the Princess Casino, has a contract to explore 1 million plus acres of Belize for oil. The license, is mostly offshore, but also some inland exploration. The company is allegedly well connected with local politicians of the ruling United Democratic Party.
The latest discovery was by BNE in January of 2010 when an oil field at Never Delay near Belmopan was declared commercial.
There were hopes that Gallon Jug (in the RSM block), Yalbac (in the West Bay block) and Calla Creek (in the BNE block), would have oil. However, none of the test wells have been successful so far.
In the south of Belize, in Toledo, US Capital has some more seismic planned. They have already done 40 kilometers of seismic in the Sarstoon Temash National Park (STNP). Photo: Drilling for oil in Belize.
The Chinese Petroleum Corporation (OPIC) had visited Belize in 2009 to collect data and take back to Taiwan to review and reprocess. Since then it has officially abandoned all prospecting licenses it held in Belize. This is believed to be connected to the growing public disaffection in Belize over oil drilling.
The 18 companies with petroleum contracts are: BCH International Inc, BelGeo Ltd., Belize Natural Energy, Blue Creek Exploration Ltd., Island Oil Belize Ltd., Miles Tropical Energy Ltd., Northern Spirit Resources Inc., OPIC Resource Corporation (now abandoned), Perenco Limited, PetroBelize Ltd., Princess Petroleum Ltd., Providence Energy Belize Limited, RSM Production Corporation, SOL Oil Belize Ltd., Spartan Petroleum Corporation, US Capital Energy Belize Ltd., West Bay Belize Ltd., and ZMT International Inc.
Companies have up to 8 years to explore for oil, and 25 years to undertake production and pump oil commercially out of the ground. If no oil is found within the eight-year exploration phase, the contract “self-terminates,” meaning it is no longer in effect.
The current United Democratic Party government has made an election promise to establish a Belize Petroleum Trust Fund to benefit all Belizeans which much needed social programs. Some 60%