Kaieteur oil block extension is prescribed by law: oil minister

Jun 17, 2025 News

…45% of block was slated to be relinquished since 2022

Kaieteur oil block extension is prescribed by law: oil minister

Minister of Natural Resources, Vickram Bharrat

Kaieteur News – Although 45 per cent of the Kaieteur oil block was due for relinquishment to the State since 2022 during ExxonMobil Guyana Limited’s (EMGL) tenure as operator, the government has explained that the extension granted to the current block partners was done on a legal basis.

Asked by Kaieteur News about the relinquishment and the extension, Minister of Natural Resources, Vickram Bharrat said, “once it’s prescribed by the law…we are compelled to do that.”

To date, no portion of the Kaieteur Block has been relinquished. The agreement for the block spanning 3.3 million acres was signed in April 2015 between Guyanese authorities and ExxonMobil Guyana, the previous operator of the block, which led a consortium consisting Hess Corporation, Ratio Energy Ltd. and Cataleya Energy Ltd.

On November 17, 2024, Ratio Petroleum reported that a one-year extension, to February 2026, had been granted to the drilling decision date.

An unofficial English translation of an announcement by Ratio Petroleum stated that a formal request was submitted to the Ministry of Natural Resources in November 2024, seeking an extension of the exploration period. It was stated that the extension was requested on the basis of technical and economic findings, according to the translated document.

Information taken from the Ministry of Natural Resources’ website on June 7th 2025

Ratio, in the statement, said that the ministry confirmed receipt of the request, adding, “accordingly, the partners in the block are expected to receive an update from the Guyanese authorities on whether additional exploration activities will be approved or whether the block (or part of it) will be relinquished, by February 2026.”

The Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) governing the Kaieteur Block stipulates that 25 per cent of the concession should have been relinquished in 2019, followed by another 20 per cent in 2022, unless the entire block was surrendered. To date, no portion of the block has been officially relinquished.

A single prospect has been drilled to date in the Kaieteur Block, which resulted in a sub-commercial oil discovery. The ExxonMobil-operated Tanager-1 well, which was drilled in August 2020, encountered 16 metres of net oil pay, a discovery of approximately 65 million barrels of oil in the prospect area, based on independent estimates by Netherland, Sewell & Associates Inc. (NSAI). This discovery was considered to be non-commercial as a standalone development.

However, in spite of a number of subsequent postponements, the operator at that time, ExxonMobil, had decided not to exercise its option to drill a second well on the block. In September 2023, it was announced by Ratio Petroleum Energy Limited Partnership that both ExxonMobil and Hess had elected to withdraw from the Kaieteur Block and return their participating interests to the original Kaieteur licence holders, Ratio Guyana Limited and Cataleya Energy Limited.

Ratio and Cataleya then sought government approval to reassign the participating interests, so that RGL and CEL will each retain a 50 per cent participating interest, and to appoint RGL as the operator of the block.

Guyana Oil, Kaieteur Block, Kaieteur oil block, relinquishment, Vickram Bharrat

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