ExxonMobil signs deal to explore for oil and gas offshore Trinidad and Tobago

The deal was signed following six months of negotiations that were held at a record pace, said John Ardill, ExxonMobil’s vice president of global exploration.

There are “no guarantees of success,” Ardill said during the ceremony, as reported by the AP. “But many of the largest discoveries and developments in the world are occurring in deepwater environments similar to what you have here.”

Ardill said ExxonMobil is committed to starting a geophysical survey in the next six months to collect data needed to identify prospects for oil and gas, after which, it will begin drilling for testing.

Using nearby Guyana as an example, Ardill said it took the country less than five years to start producing oil after the initial discovery. He noted that 10 years after that discovery, Guyana is currently producing around 650,000 barrels of oil per day.

“We see great potential to replicate the Guyana success here,” Ardill told the audience in Trinidad.

While promising to help expedite the process, Trinidad and Tobago’s Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar said the necessary oversight and guardrails will be in place to ensure that standards are not compromised.

The prime minister said that while there would be efforts to reduce carbon emissions during the project, Trinidad and Tobago would not hold back on using its energy resources.

“The Northern Hemisphere developed their countries to the fullest and are now trying to put on us that we should clamp down on our carbon emissions, (that) we should look not too much to hydrocarbons,” Persad-Bissessar said. “Trinidad and Tobago has a competitive advantage when it comes to hydrocarbons, when it comes to the energy sector, and we should not lightly surrender that.”

ExxonMobil first began operations in the twin-island republic in February 1998, but left in 2003 after its exploration efforts were unsuccessful.