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ST. GEORGE’S, Grenada, Jun 23, CMC – The US-based international oil and gas company that focuses on exploration and production activities in the Caribbean, Global Petroleum Group (GPG) says it is ready to launch a second major offshore drilling campaign in Grenadian waters.
But GPG executive director, Eduard Vasilyev, speaking on the Bubb Report television programme here, said the company has been unable to proceed because it has not received the necessary cooperation and approvals from the Grenada government.
GPG spudded and subsequently logged a wildcat exploration well known as Nutmeg-2, which is located in about 400 feet of water near the maritime boundary with Venezuela.
Vasilyev told viewers that the company has repeatedly informed St. George’s that is prepared to move forward with a second drilling programme only to receive what he described as silence.
“We were ready to drill. We informed the government many times in writing. We did not receive a single meaningful response,” Vasilyev said.
He said that GPG’s first offshore drilling campaign in Block D confirmed the presence of commercially viable natural gas reserves after years of geological studies, including 2D and 3D seismic surveys.
“The first thing we discovered was gas. We can say with full confidence that the discovery is commercial and can move into the production phase.”
Vasilyev maintained that the company was prepared to invest approximately US$350 million in a second drilling campaign involving five to six additional wells, adding that the programme would have revisited the Nutmeg-2 discovery area and tested several other prospects identified offshore Grenada.
Vasilyev also revealed that GPG has invested an estimated US$200 million in Grenada’s hydrocarbon sector and that it has advanced US$20 million to the government under provisions of its contractual agreement.
“The government is our partner under the contract. Without the government’s permits and approvals, we cannot carry out drilling operations,” he said, rejecting suggestions that the company has withheld information from the state.
He said that all geological and technical data generated over the years were formally handed over to government officials.
“We never withheld information from the government of Grenada. Every document was transferred officially,” he said, dismissing also reports that GPG had partnered with Nigerian investors, insisting that the company’s contractors remain American firms and that media reports to the contrary were inaccurate.
In 2023, the Dickon Mitchell government established a Hydrocarbons Technical Working Group to review the sector and advise on future policy, while regional discussions have continued on potential energy cooperation involving Grenada, Trinidad and Tobago and neighboring states.
Vasilyev said GPG remains willing to work with the government.
“If we had been able to work productively together over the last four years, Grenada would already be seeing the benefits. The opportunities are still there, and we remain ready to move forward,” he told the programme.
In June last year, Vasilyev led a GPG delegation to Trinidad and Tobago holding talks with that country’s Minister of Energy and Energy Industries, Dr. Roodal Moonilal and other officials.
A statement issued in Port of Spain then said that GPG is engaged in exploration and appraisal activities off Grenada’s southern coast, close to the Patao/Dragon fields in Venezuela and the North Coast Marine Area (NCMA) fields in Trinidad.
It said that in 2018, GPG successfully established a commercial agreement with the National Gas Company of Trinidad and Tobago (NGC) and that this partnership emerged from the Energy Sector Development Framework Agreement signed in 2012 between the two Caribbean Community (CARICOM) governments.
The statement said that building on this framework agreement, Moonilal reaffirmed the Trinidad and Tobago government’s commitment to collaboration with Grenada and to actively pursuing discussions aimed at strategically strengthening these bilateral relations.
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