Just this week, tiny Barbados signaled its intention to place more than 20 oil blocks up for auction later this year as its hopes to join oil and gas-rich neighbors Guyana and Suriname as the latest regional countries to become daily oil producers. Since it first discovered offshore oil in mid-2015, Guyana has become a producer with a daily output of about 350,000 barrels per day of sweet light crude, which places its product in the high demand areas in major oil markets.
Now, the Mia Mottley administration in the Caribbean island chain’s most easterly island is hoping to find oil and gas deposits in its exclusive economic zone in waters near oil and gas-rich Trinidad and Tobago. The Oil Now publication reported this week that the energy ministry has formally invited oil majors to send in offers and indications of interest in the lead up to the period beginning in November and closing in late 2023.
“You may, by now, be wondering why the government is pursuing the development of offshore hydrocarbon resources while simultaneously advancing investment in renewable and alternative energy. The answer to this is because the government recognises the importance of advocating for energy security with an emphasis on the broad diversification of our energy mix and portfolio,” he told a local forum recently.