Black Immigrant Daily News

…will attract global interest when Govt goes out to auction

While the Stabroek Block, which is responsible for 33 out of the 38 oil finds made in Guyana’s waters since 2015, has been more lucrative than neighbouring blocks, Norwegian consultancy Rystad Energy Vice President Shreiner Parker believes that outside of the Stabroek Block has serious potential for future oil finds.

During a recent engagement with the media, Parker, who heads the Latin America division for Rystad Energy, said that while Stabroek, with its reputation as one of the most prolific exploration blocks of all time, has overshadowed neighbouring blocks, this will not dissuade companies from continuing exploration outside of Stabroek.

“We do believe that there is a lot of prospectivity outside of Stabroek, although we’ve not seen that yet. In terms of the way the turbidites are formed, we’ve certainly seen a development of a kitchen in the South East corner of the Stabroek Block, which extends into Block 58, Suriname, which is operated by Total, with Apache as a partner.”

“Exxon will continue to push and I think, as will others, continue to push to the bleeding edge and go deeper along the turbidite distribution to see how material that is. Whether that resource will be overcooked… I guess there are some question marks around that. But we do believe that there is prospectively outside of Stabroek.”

According to Parker, Exxon’s level of success in the Stabroek block has not yet been replicated by Exxon and other oil companies in other blocks in Guyana’s waters. He noted that of the four oil discoveries outside Stabroek, only one has commercial potential – although there has been talk by the Orinduik partners of revisiting one of the wells, Jethro, and its commercial viability.

“Typically, exploration success rate is about five per cent. Meaning every five exploration wells drilled, only one encounters pay. That has not been the case in Stabroek. There have been very few dry holes drilled, versus actual commercial discoveries.”

“We know that Jethro and Joe both had uncommercial lines for a number of different reasons. So, I think there are some questions about the commerciality outside of Stabroek. But certainly, Exxon and the other block owners are going to continue exploration efforts outside of Stabroek,” Parker explained.

And while Parker was of the view that Guyana will get interest from around the globe when it goes out to auction its oil blocks, Parker warned that getting the financial terms of the blocks right would be very important. He gave the example of Brazil.

“In recent years they’ve had unsuccessful bid rounds. Even though Brazil is an extremely important source of offshore production globally, they were unable to attract the interest that they wanted, because the fiscal regimes were too onerous. And they were asking for too much.”

“So, the balance that Guyana will have to strike on these new blocks, is understanding that we’re no longer going to have the Stabroek fiscal regime. We are a petroleum province. Yet at the same time we cannot expect that it’s a guaranteed success that every hole poked into the ground will produce oil. So, getting that fiscal regime correct is going to be paramount to attracting interest globally.”

When asked if Guyana doing its own 3D seismic survey of the remaining blocks to establish the value of the blocks would help Guyana’s chances, he noted that while it could be of interest, it may not be necessary. As he put it, Guyana is already a hot story.

Guyana has long been expected to go out and auction oil blocks, both untapped and relinquished, by September. There are relinquishment clauses, which is typically included in contracts so that companies can relinquish a portion of the block when the renewable period is up, thereby allowing other companies to buy into the respective blocks.

For the Stabroek and Canje Blocks, operators are required to relinquish 20 per cent of their blocks after the first renewal period; while those of the Demerara and Corentyne Blocks are expected to relinquish 15 per cent within this period.

The Kaieteur Block’s relinquishment provision is said to be 25 per cent, then 20 per cent by the first renewal; with the Mahaicony and Roraima Blocks at 25 per cent. By the time of the first renewal for the Orinduik Block, the operators are not expected to relinquish any portion.

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Black Immigrant Daily News

Agentes adscritos a la División de Patrullas de Carreteras de Manatí, se encuentran investigando un accidente de carácter fatal con dos ciclistas, en la carretera número 2, kilómetro 53.3, en dirección de Manatí a Barceloneta.

Las víctimas no han sido identificadas y las autoridades indicaron que el conductor que presuntamente provocó el accidente se detuvo en la escena.

La carretera está cerrada debido al accidente, por lo que se exhorta a los conductores a manejar con precaución o tomar rutas alternas.

Más adelante se ampliará la información.

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Black Immigrant Daily News

Elon Musk ha anunciado que seguirá adelante con el acuerdo de compra de Twitter bajo los términos originales si la compañía demuestra cómo comprueba la autenticidad de las cuentas de los usuarios, tuiteó este sábado el multimillonario.

En respuesta a un usuario de la plataforma que resumió brevemente el conflicto entre el empresario y el gigante tecnológico, Musk explicó cuál es su condición principal para poder llevar a cabo el acuerdo de 44.000 millones de dólares.

“Si Twitter simplemente proporciona su método de comprobación de 100 cuentas y [muestra] cómo se confirma que son reales, el acuerdo debería seguir adelante en los términos originales”, escribió el fundador de Tesla y Space X.

Musk también señaló que, en caso de que los registros presentados por la compañía ante la Comisión de Bolsa y Valores de EE.UU. (SEC, por sus siglas en inglés) fueran falsificados, habrá que suspender todo lo acordado.

“Si resulta que su documentación de la SEC es materialmente falsa, entonces [el acuerdo] no debería [proceder]”, tuiteó Musk.

El pasado 8 de julio, Musk canceló el acuerdo de adquisición de la red social por 44.000 millones de dólares, argumentando “el incumplimiento sustancial de múltiples disposiciones” por parte de Twitter, tras no responder a sus solicitudes de información sobre la cantidad de cuentas falsas o de ‘spam’ registradas en la plataforma.

En respuesta, la red social impuso una demanda para obligar al magnate a cumplir su oferta de adquisición de la empresa. El pasado 29 de julio, Musk presentó una contrademanda contra el servicio de microblogueo.

Este jueves, Twitter desestimó la afirmación de Musk acerca de que había sido engañado para firmar el acuerdo de compra, diciendo que era “inverosímil y contraria a los hechos”.

“Según Musk, él —el multimillonario fundador de múltiples empresas, asesorado por banqueros y abogados de Wall Street— fue engañado por Twitter para firmar un acuerdo de fusión de 44.000 millones de dólares”, afirmó la empresa, citada por Reuters. “Esa historia es tan inverosímil y contraria a los hechos como parece”, declaró.

Nota original de RT Español.

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Black Immigrant Daily News

Four more ships carrying agricultural cargo held up by the war in Ukraine received authorisation Sunday to leave the country’s Black Sea coast as analysts warned that Russia was moving troops and equipment in the direction of the ports to stave off a Ukrainian counteroffensive.

The body overseeing an international deal intended to get some 20 millions of grain out of Ukraine and to feed millions of impoverished people who are going hungry in Africa, the Middle East and parts of Asia said the loaded vessels were cleared to depart from Chornomorsk and Odesa.

Ukraine, Russia, Turkey and the United Nations signed agreements last month to create a sea channel that would allow cargo ships to travel safely out of ports that Russia’s military had blockaded and through waters that Ukraine’s military had mined. Implementation of the deal, which is in effect for four months, has proceeded slowly since the first ship embarked last Monday.

For the last four months of the war, Russia has concentrated on capturing the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, where pro-Moscow separatists have controlled some territory as self-proclaimed republics for eight years. Russian forces have made gradual headway in the region bordering Russia while launching missile and rocket attacks to curtail the movements of Ukrainian fighters elsewhere.

Over the past day, five civilians were killed in Russian and separatist firing on cities in the Donetsk region, the part of Donbas still under Ukrainian control, the regional governor, Serhiy Haidai, reported. He and Ukrainian government officials repeatedly have urged civilians to evacuate the province.

In a weekend analysis, Britain’s Defense Ministry said the Russian invasion that started February 24 “is about to enter a new phase” in which the fighting shifting would shift west and south to a roughly 350-kilometre (217-mile) front line that extends from near the city of Zaporizhzhia to Russian-occupied Kherson.

Kherson, located on the Dnieper River near its mouth with the Black Sea, came under Russian control early in the war and Ukrainian officials have vowed to retake it. Kherson is located 227 kilometres (141 miles) from Odesa, home to Ukraine’s biggest port, so the conflict escalating there could have repercussions for the international grain deal.

The city of Mykolaiv, an important shipbuilding center that comes under daily rocketing from Russian forces, is even closer to Odesa. The Mykolaiv region’s governor, Vitaliy Kim, said an industrial facility on the regional capital’s outskirts came under fire early Sunday.

On Saturday, Russian forces launched airstrikes, fired artillery and redistributed other weaponry as part of attempts to defend their positions in occupied areas, according to the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington think tank.

Citing local Ukrainian officials, the institute said the Russians “are continuing to accumulate large quantities of military equipment” in a town across the Dnieper River from Kherson. The preparations appeared designed to defend logistics routes to the city and to establish defensive positions on the river’s left bank, the think tank said.

Ukrainian officials were initially skeptical of a grain export deal, citing suspicions that Moscow would try to exploit shipping activity to mass troops offshore or to send long-range missiles from the Black Sea, as it has done multiple times during the war. The agreements approved last month call for ships to leave Ukraine under military escort and to undergo inspections.

Under the agreements, ships leaving Ukraine are inspected by teams made up of officials from the three countries and the UN to make sure they carry only grain, fertilizer or food and not any other commodities. Inbound vessels are checked to ensure they are not carrying weapons.

The Joint Coordination Center, which is responsible for managing the deal, said three cargo ships that left Friday were expected to pass through Turkey’s Bosporus Strait on Sunday after clearing inspections. The Panama-flagged Navi Star, which is carrying 33,000 tonnes of grain to Ireland, completed its inspection and was preparing to sail.

The Turkish-flagged Polarnet, which was headed for Turkey, and the Maltese-flagged Rojen, bound for the United Kingdom were waiting to be checked. The ships carried over 25,000 tonnes of corn between them, were waiting to be checked.

The Joint Coordination Center said three of the carriers cleared to leave Ukraine on Sunday – the Glory, the Star Helena and the Riva Wind, all flagged in the Marshall Islands – were transporting more than 171,000 tonnes of corn combined. The Glory is destined for Istanbul, the Star Helena to Nantong in China and the Riva Wind to Turkey’s Iskenderun port on the Mediterranean.

The fourth ship cleared for departure, the Liberia-flagged tanker Mustafa Necati is carrying more than 6,600 tonnes of sunflower oil to Monopoli, Italy.

The centre also authorised the first inbound ship under the agreement, saying the Liberia-flagged Osprey S would head Monday to Ukraine’s Chornomorsk port. Marine traffic tracking sites showed the ship north of the Black Sea entrance to the Bosporus, where ships have waited for inspection teams to board.

___

By SUSIE BLANN, Associated Press

Andrew Wilks contributed reporting from Istanbul.

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Black Immigrant Daily News

Elaine Thompson-Herah believes the presence of her husband and coach Derron at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England accounted for her improved performances.

The five-time Olympic gold medallist Herah was speaking on Saturday during an interview with SportsMax TV after she completed the Commonwealth Games sprint double by winning the 200m in a Games record of 22.02 seconds to finish streets ahead of the rest of the field.

Favour Ofili of Nigeria (22.51) and Christine Mboma (22.80) of Namibia took silver and bronze, respectively.

The 200m gold came three days after the Jamaican sprint queen held off Julien Alfred of St Lucia and Daryll Neita of England, to claim the 100m gold in 10.95 seconds.

Thompson-Herah also completed the sprint double in the Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo Olympics but failed to reproduce her Olympic forms at last month’s World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon.

She was outsprinted by her compatriots Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Shericka Jackson in the 100 metres.

And in the 200m in Eugene she finished a disappointing seventh in 22.39 as 28-year-old Jackson set a new championships record and the second-fastest time in history, winning in a sensational 21.45. Fraser-Pryce took silver with a new season’s best time of 21.81.

Fraser-Pryce and Jackson were criticised by Commonwealth Games officials for snubbing the event in preference to athletics events in Europe. Jackson won the 200 at a meeting in Poland earlier on Saturday in 21.84 and Fraser-Pryce, the 100m in a world-leading 10.66.

Thompson-Herah’s coach was not in Oregon but she did not give a reason for his absence.

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