By the Caribbean Journal staff

A report by Ryder Scott commissioned by the Bahamas Petroleum Company has found potentially significant oil resources offshore.

According to Ryder Scott’s “Competent Persons Report,” which examined newly-acquired seismic data and previous information, even low-end estimates suggest potentially billions of barrels of oil in the company’s exploration area.

In a statement, CEO Dr Paul Crevello, said the report “provides the first resource evaluation of the southern fold belt and, for tha t matter, in the Bahamas. The report is the result of analyses of the recently-acquired 2D seismic survey and verifies our earlier studies on the resource potential of the Bahamas.”

The report found that three licences owned by BPC record “Unrisked Recoverable Prospective Resources (EUR)” in excess of 500 million barrels each at multiple reservoir intervals, with three of the four structures having an excess of 1 billion barrels of oil.

BPC is currently undertaking a 3D seismic programme over four of its five licences, with 40 percent of the surrey complete.

“It is encouraging to have third-party endorsement of the significant oil potential of our licence area,” said Dr Paul Gucwa, COO of BPC. Gucwa said that the report only focused on one area, the Cretaceous reservoirs, and the company believed “considerable potential” existed in three other areas.

The report cautioned that the volumes may not be economically recoverable.

BPC currently has five petroleum exploration licences totaling 15,676 square kilometers in Bahamian offshore waters.

“The study supports the longstanding vision of our chairman and founder, Alan Burns, that the Bahamas may hold significant quantities of hydrocarbons,” Dr Crevello said.