You mean Katie is right! First time for everything I guess. Come on Rig this plan cannt be good. You specifically told me that no PSA had been signed for outside the reef. Whats with that? Did you forget Glovers Reef and off shore North Ambergris Caye? Ever hear of world heritage site. I said it was not known what type of seismic survey would be used here and that is true. You may pretend to know and it may prove you made a good estimate but you dont know, me neither nor did petroleum when I called. Please explain drilled plugged and abandoned. Are we talking about a system of underwater pipes through the atoll?
Mike.
I am pretty sure that I will know the exact technique to be used before most people in Belize. We regularly get updates from the seismic companies about what equipment is where and also what contracts have been signed. No seismic company has signed a contract for a trawled array vessel as you have suggested to go to Belize for the foreseeable future (several years)
then, no, it doesn't mean Katie was right. The chances of that are very slim, but that is how a lot of barge drilling works.
At the moment, there are no drilling PSA's in force. Only PSA's that cover gathering or interpreting seismic. Once the seismic has been done and Belize gets to the second or third renewal period, then a request to drill will be submitted and may or may not be approved.
At the moment drilling is at least two years away. There are no plans by the government to allow drilling inside the reef, or on the reef, nor as I see it in any national park. Drilling may be carried out in shallow, medium or deepwater outside the reef, as per the block areas outlined in various PSA's (get the block areas off the geology department) but as yet there are no plans submitted by oil companies to do so.
When you drill an exploratory well, you do it for the purpose of seeing what is there, and how well any hydrocarbons will move within the rock. Then you fill up all the bottom of the well with bridge plugs and cement, cut and pull the upper casing, and fill the void with more cement. Then you remove the wellhead. The top hole will collapse and fill the void. Nobody will know anything had been there except for a dot on the map in the geology department.
Then after all data has been analysed, the company may elect to take a further renewal of their PSA. They can then submit a request to drill and if granted, they can drill appraisal wells. These are again exploratory, designed to find out the extent of the reservoir. These are often plugged and abandoned as well, but may be temporarily suspended for re-entry at a later date to turn them into producers or injectors. Temporary suspension means the bridge plugs and cement, but you don't cut and pull the casing.
In this case in shallow water you will have a drilling conductor sticking up out of the water with a capped wellhead on top. (No Christmas tree). In deep water there will be nothing to see at all as all of the equipment is down below on the seabed and is covered with an over-trawlable structure.