Exploration interest in Caribbean:

The recent surge in the global price of oil has been putting heavy pressure on the net oil importing countries in the Caribbean.
Given the price movement of oil, vulnerable and the tourism-dependent countries such as those in the Caribbean are bracing themselves when it breaks the US$100 mark.
In Jamaica, the increase in the price of oil which rose a third from August from US$72 to US$96 per barrel has left consumers with higher bills to pay for food, electricity and transportation.
Newly-elected prime minister Bruce Golding acknowledges that his country can do little about it as almost 90 percent of its energy supplies are derived from imported oil.
The increasing cost of imported fuel and its impact on Barbadians has also forced the Owen Arthur administration to consider creating a Memorandum of Understanding with the Barbados Light and Power to contain residential customers bills, so that the fuel adjustment cause will not automatically kick in when the price of oil goes up.
What is also noticeable these days is that in tandem with the increase in the price of oil,  there seems to be an intense interest among countries to explore their land and offshore areas for oil and gas.
Apart from the traditional oil and gas exporter Trinidad and Tobago where exploration on several blocks continues to take place, Guyana, Jamaica and Barbados are preparing for seismic and exploration works.
Interestingly, Saba, a small Dutch-Caribbean island of just over 500 people is also joining the search for hydrocarbons.
The ending of the maritime dispute between Guyana and Suriname which lasted over five years has seen companies such as CGX, Repsol and ExxonMobil preparing to undertake 2D and 3D seismic over the areas under their control.
There’s great optimism that it is only a matter of time when hydrocarbons are found in Guyana.
That hope is backed up by the US Geological Services which has indicated in studies that the Guyana/Suriname Basin has the largest undiscovered resource potential in the world.
Mean Resource Estimate has been put at 15.2 billion barrels of oil and 42 trillion cubic feet of gas.
Jamaica, one of the highest energy importing countries in the Caribbean consuming 70,000 barrels of oil a day particularly by its electricity and bauxite sector is hoping for commercial hydrocarbon by the end of 2010 as a number of prospects, particularly offshore, are showing positive indicators.
Dr. Raymond Wright, Consultant at the Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica (PCJ) reported at a Port of Spain energy conference last week that some of the largest structures in an area known as the Walton Basin could contain 28 billion barrels (of oil).
Australia-based Finder Exploration PTY Limited/Gippsland Offshore Petrorleum Limited are planning to drill at least two wells and Rainville of Calvary, Canada, one before the end of 2010.
Hong Kong based company, Proteam which negotiated Production Sharing Arrangements following the 2007 bid round for four offshore blocks has also agreed to an aggressive exploration programme in Jamaica.
Barbados? competitive bid round will close on April 4, 2008 and winners will be announced a month later. Ron Hewitt, General Manager of the Barbados National Oil Company is confident that the bid round will attract international companies given the interest shown during their roads shows in Houston and London earlier in the year.
Potential appears to be greatest in the south and western parts of offshore Barbados in the Barbados and Tobago Troughs and along the Barbados Ridge.
While countries are concentrating on getting into exploration for oil and gas, it’s equally important that they look at alternative energy to satisfy a significant percentage of their energy demands.
In Port of Spain last week, it as suggested that Trinidad and Tobago, the lone oil producer in the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) could take a lead in establishing alternative energy and could also provide funding for the much-talked about Caribbean Renewable Energy Development Programme.
Robert Riley, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of BP Trinidad and Tobago noted that there is also a major opportunity for the twin-island Republic to industrialize photovoltais (solar) panels to aid in reducing high energy demand by Caribbean countries.
Wayne Bertrand, President of Operations at Trinidad and Tobago’s state-owned integrated energy company, Petrotrin submitted that Trinidad and Tobago should take the lead in and also arrange funding for the CARICOM wider initiative of alternative energy.
In Jamaica and in the eastern Caribbean there is further development for wind, geothermal development from volcanic islands while Barbados can share its experience with solar power.
Another alternative for the region might be the use of sugar for energy purposes such as electricity generation and biofuels.
Stelios Christopoulos Charg頤?affaires for the Delegation of the European Commission to Trinidad and Tobago noted that the sugar protocol countries in the Caribbean can benefit from adaptation to such measures and cited Jamaica as an example where sugar is being used for the production of ethanol which is exported to the United States.
It makes good economic and practical sense that countries in the Caribbean have a mix of alternatives and renewables alongside the traditional oil and gas.
Energy costs in the Caribbean is already the highest in the Western Hemisphere and amongst the highest in the world.
The cost of energy in various islands range from as low as US$0.20/kwh to as high as US$0.37/kWh. These numbers however exclude Trinidad and Tobago, a petroleum producing nation which enjoys an average cost of US$0.05/kWh.
These high energy costs provides numerous business opportunities to energy entrepreneurs which to date has not been exploited for a number of reasons, according to Andre Escalante, Managing Director of Trinidad-based Energy Dynamics Limited who has been preaching energy management throughout the region.
Current energy costs for 2007 has revealed that many islands are currently over US$0.35/kWh, and the cost continue to rise as a result of the increase of fuel cost in the international market.
The average cost of energy in the smaller islands is now equal to between five to seven times that of Trinidad and Tobago and approximately three to four times that in North America and Europe, according to Escalante.
Although the potential for energy conservation in this region – estimated at US$ 242,800,000 annually – is phenomenal there are numerous obstacles that the energy entrepreneur must face.
Escalante said that these include lack of awareness by regional energy consumers of the technologies available, lack of trained technical personnel within companies and regional consultants , availability of competent suppliers, poor legal infrastructure within islands , difficulty of consumers in obtaining funding and high import duty on energy technologies in some islands.
Ultimately, energy management is something that regional governments must give active consideration particularly as they grapple with an increasing oil import bill.
And good luck to all in their search for the precious oil and gas resources.