Pentagon Petroleum Inc., Baton Rouge, La., has signed an exploration license covering 268,000 acres in Belize.
Pentagon believes its Block V14 in the northwest corner of the country to be within the prolific Peten basin of Mexico and Guatemala.
Plans call for seismic work to begin during the next 6 months. Pentagon's 4 year exploration license calls for a wildcat to spud by the fourth year.
Consulting geologist Jean Cornec, Benque Viejo, Belize, contends the Pentagon block lies within the most prospective area of the country.
About 100 exploratory wells have been drilled in the 15 million acre Peten basin, and two thirds of the basin has no seismic coverage, Cornec wrote in a report on the concession's hydrocarbon potential.
Cornec cites geologic similarities with Mexico and Guatemala, with prospective targets in Cretaceous carbonate/anhydride alternations. Oil seeps have turned up on the flank of the basin in the Maya Mountains foothills southwest of Belmopan, and free oil was recovered in four shallow wells in the Belmopan area, Cornec wrote.
"Northern Belize has almost every favorable geologic condition for generation, migration, and accumulation of oil," said Pentagon Chairman Larry Sciacchetano. "No example anywhere in the world is known of a tectonic zone similar to that of northern Belize with its basin position and porosity development that has not resulted in discovery of commercial hydrocarbon accumulations."
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