Guyana is expecting the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea to decide, by August, the maritime boundaries between Guyana and Suriname, an area said to have the second largest oil and natural gas reserves of unexplored areas.
Foreign Affairs Minister Rudy Insanally made this disclosure yesterday to the media at the Foreign Services Institute.
He said that Guyana expected an earlier ruling but, because of procedural matters, the ruling was pushed back to mid-year.
Nearly three years after Guyana initiated proceedings under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, oral presentations ended last December at the Organisation of American States (OAS) Headquarters in Washington.
The United States Geological Survey has shown that the area contains more than 500 million barrels of oil, dubbing it one of the richest virgin regions in the world.
Oil companies have been mobilizing in anticipation of the ruling.
Within the last year, President Bharrat Jagdeo has met with Exxon and Repsol officials, who have expressed an interest in exploration here.
In June 2000, Surinamese gunboats expelled a rig that was exploring for oil and gas deposits in an offshore area to which both countries lay claim.
Suriname's contention was that the rig, rented by Toronto-based CGX Energy Inc., which was granted a concession by Guyana, was in its waters.
Negotiations to resolve the maritime border dispute between the two countries have been ongoing since.
Last month, CGX announced plans to use net proceeds from a recently announced private placement financing offering to continue the exploration on the company's three offshore Guyana Licenses and for general corporate purposes.
CGX issued 10,000,000 common shares of the corporation at a price of US$0.80 per share for gross proceeds of US$8 million.