GEORGETOWN, Guyana (AP) — A representative of Exxon Mobile in Guyana says an effort to find oil and natural gas in waters off the South American country is showing promise.

Country Manager Jeff Simons says the company has found hydrocarbons at an Atlantic Ocean site northwest of the capital. Simons declined to provide specifics and said the company was still evaluating the discovery to determine if it's commercially viable.

Decades of exploration in Guyana have yet to locate a viable source of oil or gas despite the proximity of energy-rich Venezuela and Trinidad.

Venezuela claims the area where Exxon Mobil has been exploring and has denounced the effort.

Guyana Natural Resources Minister Robert Persaud planned to meet Thursday with company officials to discuss the find.

"Some of the world’s top oil companies are betting that the next big oil discovery will be in the offshore waters of Suriname a small former Dutch colony on the northeast coast of South America.

Billions of barrels of crude are thought to be buried beneath Suriname’s shallow coastal waters and offshore in deep water. Where is it exactly? Somewhere within a 93,000-square-mile area of the Atlantic Ocean just offshore from Suriname. Exploratory activities by several oil companies started a few years ago and some are now poised to drill wells under production-sharing agreements with Suriname’s state oil company Staatsolie Maatschappij Suriname N.V. (Staatsolie).

The offshore area thought to hold a vast reservoir of oil is virtually unexplored, with only some two dozen exploration wells having been drilled there. Though the results were disappointing, anticipation is nevertheless building over the possibility of a big discovery, now that some drilling is about to start following extensive exploration and analysis."

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/oct/9/some-of-the-worlds-top-oil-companies-are-betting-t/