UK Oil Firm Sees Potential 7 Billion-Barrel Oil Find In Jamaican Waters

• A UK-based oil and gas exploration company says new offshore testing in Jamaican waters has identified hydrocarbons that could signal the presence of petroleum beneath the seabed.
• United Oil & Gas plc (UOG) announced on Wednesday that it has completed analysis of seabed samples collected from the Walton-Morant Licence, an area long considered to hold potential oil and gas reserves.  The company said the results mark an important step toward determining whether offshore drilling could eventually take place.
• During its recent Seabed Geochemical Exploration (SGE) survey, UOG has undertaken a geochemical analysis on the 42 piston cores acquired across the Walton-Morant Licence. The analysis has identified C4 and C5 hydrocarbons, including butanes and pentanes, in select piston cores within the headspace gas dataset. The Walton-Morant licence could contain approximately 7 billion barrels of prospective resources, though this represents potential rather than confirmed reserves.
• These higher order hydrocarbons are not typically associated with biogenic gas systems and are therefore consistent with a potential thermogenic contribution. This distinction is significant because thermogenic hydrocarbons are more commonly linked to oil and gas deposits, whereas biogenic gas usually forms closer to the surface and is less likely to indicate large-scale petroleum resources.
• There is an established body of evidence for an active petroleum system in Jamaica in general, and on the licence in particular, including repeat satellite slick anomalies, thermogenic hydrocarbon geochemistry from existing onshore and offshore wells, onshore and offshore oil seeps, and onshore surface outcrops.
• Furthermore, petroleum systems modelling suggests the presence of oil-mature source rocks. The 2026 SGE survey is the first on the licence to be optimally positioned using 3D seismic, multibeam echosounder (MBES) seabed mapping, and satellite-derived slick anomaly data.
• Taken together, the data are interpreted as consistent with an active petroleum system offshore Jamaica.

(Sources: United Oil and Gas PLC and Caribbean National Weekly)