The Guatemalan oil exploration company called Petrolera Del Atlantico is not working for U.S. Capital Energy. That's what geology inspector Andre Cho told us today in response to a claim made last night by SATIIM's Greg Choq. He said that they are installing devices called geophones and they are for seismic testing, but it is an independent survey with serious transnational considerations, not least of them the possibility that Belizean oil could be pumped into Guatemala. He discussed this via telephone.
Andre Cho, Inspector of Petroleum
"They requested to stretch these geophone cables across the border, 1.7 kilometers and no seismic will be shot in Belizean territory or in the national park and why this company has requested this is because our department along with the contractor U.S. Capital on the Belize side have mapped cross border structures and Petrolera Del Atlantico has always mapped these structures and so both companies are working in conjunction with both governments to try and collect seismic data on these cross border structures because they will be very important. It is in both countries' interest to know if these structures exist because in the future if there is any commercial discovery made in this structures, these will be cross border fields.
It is a request that is a national security issue and it's an issue that the government has to take very seriously because like I said if there is any cross border structure or commercial field, it would have to developed jointly by both governments. It is a concern that the Belizean government has and that is why we find it prudent to allow this company to do this so that we can get the data because the Petrolera Del Atlantico could drill and produce the oil from its structure from the Guatemalan side unknown to Belize."
Cho explained also that no oil has yet been found in what could be a contiguous oil field in Guatemala.
