It is easy to take the press cuttings you quote out of context.
I think BNE, Belize's first oil company, would have been a great role model for Treaty to follow but they decided to ignore BNE and do their own thing. A mistake IMO.
Here's the facts:
BNE's concession was granted in January 2003 and their first and main field, Spanish Lookout, was discovered in 2005 and reported a production of over 2000 bpd in 2006 (that is from 0 to 1000 bpd in 3 years - UNLIKE TREATY).
The Never Delay field was discovered by BNE in 2007 by exploration well Never Delay #1 which they logged immediately (UNLIKE TREATY).
There was a lot of geological evidence of live and dead oil shows in wells drilled earlier in the area which were abandonned after drilling (UNLIKE TREATY / Princess San Juan #2 exploration well)
In 2009 new data derived from 3D seismic inventory, seemed to indicate a good potential for the Never Delay field with a possible extent of approximately 10,000 acre (±4,000 ha) extending from Never Delay proper beyond Belmopan to the west. (UNLIKE TREATY who have no seismic)
Three appraisal wells were completed before a development plan was made. (UNLIKE TREATY and their shareholders who think you can go from exploration well, then forget field development and start production immediately)
Based on seismic data combined with some findings made in the appraisal wells, Never delay was declared a commercial find on November 5, 2009 and an EIA with a development plan detailing 8-15 additional wells, gathering systems and primary processing facilities was submitted to the Government of Belize in April 2010. (UNLIKE TREATY who do not yet have any well data on which to based the declaration of commercial discovery. And Actually it woul be Princess Petroleum, the concession holders, who would have to make the declaration in any case.)
The news articles that you have pointed us to do cover debate in early 2010 about the Government of Belize (GoB) response on Never delay development. The EIA was submitted after this and officially took some time to approve (as I believe the GoB wanted to be extra sure that the EIA didn't give the environmentalists - who were lobbying hard against offshore oil at the time - anything to come back against them with). (UNLIKE TREATY who have not submitted anything to GoB to approve. IMO)
In 2011 Never Delay was developed (with multiple large drilling rigs) and in the middle of that year the GoB announced that the field was on production. (UNLIKE TREATY who have never found anything, developed an oilfield in any country nor produced any new oil yet)
I have been to Never Delay many times and have photos if you want to see them - to show you how a real oil company does it.
I went on a trip to Spanish Lookout yesterday too, as I needed a break from all the things I do in Belize City and I wanted to remind myself what the operations of a real oil company in Belize looked like.
I hope Treaty operations will look that professional soon.
Sorry to be so hard on Treaty today, but their amateurishness upsets me. And in the oil industry worldwide, professionalism, standards and track record are important.
