Providence Energy Group owns the offshore concession area contiguous to Treaty Energy's area in southern Belize. When they were granted their contract in 2007 they released a press release which read in part as follows:
Exploration in Belize has hardly begun, which is interesting since nearly all of the 57 wells drilled there either had oil shows or are currently producing oil, indicating the source rock is exceptional," said Providence Energy Group CEO, Scott Bayless. "There are 20 times more wells drilled in the state of West Virginia each year than in the entire history of Belize, and nearly every well was explored years ago with rudimentary technologies that we would consider antiquated by today's standards."
With the recent discoveries in Belize, there is little doubt whether hydrocarbons exist there. According to Dr. Kyou Kim, PhD, Providence's senior geologist, "Belize is very significant in terms of petroleum geology. Approximately 200 million years ago the Yucatan peninsula was adjacent to the coast of Venezuela, where some of the largest oil fields are known to exist. That this peninsula (encompassing Southern Mexico, Guatemala and Belize) holds the 2nd largest oil field in the world (the Cantarell field of Mexico) is no coincidence," stated Kim. "This region resembles the Gulf region of the Middle East, which holds over 50% of our known reserves. Not only does the Yucatan have a similar geology as the Gulf, but it also has an analogous subduction zone -- a geological phenomenon which continually generates both petroleum and petroleum traps and renders the 'chicken-and-the-egg' problem of timing somewhat irrelevant."
The subduction zone Dr. Kim refers to is an area on the western coast of Mexico, where the organic rich sedimentary Pacific basin is folding underneath the Mexican continental shelf at a rate of about 5 to 15 centimeters per year. Similarly, the Saudi peninsula is folding underneath Iran, which Kim believes is the primary generator of petroleum and traps for that region. The timing problem, he referred to, constitutes an industry concern that traps are oftentimes created before oil migration, which renders them empty. With a subduction zone, on the other hand, oil is continuously generated and traps are continually formed.
The Company believes not just that Belize will become a significant petroleum state, but that its concessions will be a major area of discovery. "We are more than elated with the location of our concessions," stated Bayless. "They are strategically positioned in southern Belize where we believe a major oil migration path extends from Southern Mexico and the subduction zone, through Guatemala, into Belize."
They seemed rather upbeat, then (in 2007), but we haven't heard much from them since. Again I see no evidence that this group is publicly traded. Our southern concession area is immediately next to the Providence concession area but strictly on-shore, making our property much more valuable considering the national discussion Belize is currently having over offshore drilling. Providence could resolve the offshore drilling discussion if they were to attempt an exploratory well following a successful (a commercial) well by Treaty.
