Eric Watkins
Senior Correspondent
LOS ANGELES, Feb. 8 -- Japan's Japex Geoscience Institute has signed a cooperation agreement with Honduras to promote oil and natural gas exploration in the Central American country.
A Honduran official said JGI will help update and verify existing information on the country's hydrocarbons potential, with initial results of the 2-year agreement expected in April.
Working through the Japanese Technical Mission to Honduras, JGI is indexing and cataloging the entire holdings of the Dirección General de Minas e Hidrocarburos (DGMH) related to the country's hydrocarbon potential.
DGMH, a branch of the Secretaria de Recursos Natural y Ambiente, collects and compiles geological information, mining and exploration permits and concessions, and hydrocarbon exploration concessions.
The JGI goal is to synthesize geological and geophysical data for a basin analysis to identify potential opportunity for hydrocarbon exploration.
The analysis will be packaged and sold to companies interested in petroleum exploration in Honduras, which wants to develop its oil and gas resources and reduce dependence on foreign imports.
Contact Eric Watkins at [email protected].