KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC—The Jamaica government has described as “fake news” reports circulating on social media that it has been discovered here.
“I have seen the many posts on social media and received WhatsApps and telephone calls about the fake news circulating on social media in relation to the discovery of oil on our shores or off our shores.
“As a minister, I can categorically state that there is no such thing. It is fake news,” said Energy Minister Daryl Vaz. Listen to audio
According to the social media reports, the oil discovery is equivalent to seven billion barrels, with some people speculating that the release of popular entertainer Vybz Kartel, who had been convicted of murder, was done deliberately to distract the masses from the alleged find.
But in a video message, Vaz said the claims are “untrue” and urged Jamaicans to disregard the rumors.
“As a minister, I would be the first to be excited to share such good news if and when that happens. So until you hear from me while I am minister, disregard all information concerning Jamaica’s discovery of oil; it is simply untrue,” Vaz said.
The British-based company, United Oil Plc, has a 22,400 km2 offshore exploration license located south of the island.
According to its website, “this frontier exploration license benefits from excellent data coverage, including 2,250km2 of 3D data, which has helped define multiple plays and prospects and material productivity within the acreage.”
It said over seven billion barrels of mean/mid-case recoverable unrisked prospective resources had been identified within the Walton Morant license area.
“This estimation is based on United’s arithmetic sum of the mean/mid-case prospective unrisked resources for each prospect and lead identified by United and previous operators.
“The license area includes 21 prospect leads, each containing more than 100 million barrels of oil potential. The largest of which potentially contains more than 1.1 billion barrels mid-case unrisked prospective recoverable resources,” the British-based company said.
In January this year, the company announced that it had secured a two-year extension to the production sharing agreement (PSA) for the Walton Morant License in Jamaica.
The Jamaican Ministry of Science, Energy, Telecommunications, and Transport extended the PSA until January 21, 2026. United plans to undertake additional technical studies, including piston core sampling and seismic reprocessing, aimed at further de-risking the petroleum system and “better defining the prospects and leads identified on the license,” the company said in an announcement on the London Stock Exchange.
Download audio – Jamaica’s Energy minister Daryl Vaz
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