In its assessment of offshore fossil fuel reserves, the big international oil and gas explorer Woodside Energy found that there are good chances of natural gas and oil off the coast of Barbados.
Jamar White, who is the Director of Natural Resources for the Ministry of Energy and Business, gave this update in the well of Parliament on Monday as the 2023/2024 Estimates of Expenditure and Revenue debate continued.
His comments came less than a week after Kerrie Symmonds, the Senior Minister for Coordinating the Productive Sectors, said that it was likely that hydrocarbons would be found off the coast of Barbados, based on studies that were being done to figure out the island’s offshore potential.
White told the people in the House of Assembly that after three years of looking for oil and gas along a large part of the coast of Barbados, Woodside Energy has made good progress.
“They did a 2600-square-kilometer 3D seismic survey off the coast of Barbados to learn more about how promising the area was. “From what we’ve heard, and we’re still waiting for official word from the company, the results look very promising,” White said.
“We know that the National Energy Policy talks about exporting resources from offshore, and studies show that we have a good chance of finding natural gas offshore because of where we are and other tests and studies that have been done.
“With that natural gas, we think we have a big resource that can help us power the country and give us resources to sell in the future,” he said.
White said that Woodside has also teamed up with Shell, an international oil and gas company, to increase the chances of finding oil and gas. This is another good sign.
“It looks like we have a good chance of getting natural gas. There is also a chance that oil will be found nearby, and with Shell on board, we think this is a very good sign for the future,” the Director of Energy said.
Last year, the government opened the bidding process for 22 blocks in the waters around Barbados in order to get oil companies from other countries interested in the country’s possible offshore oil deposits.
