Westmount Energy becomes first AIM E&P to list on OTCQB Market as it takes Guyana-Suriname Basin story to New York

Westmount Energy Limited (LON:WTE) will become the first exploration and production company to be quoted on both AIM and the OTCQB Market after listing its shares in New York. Trading under the ticker WMELF, it is using the OTC as an international stage for its investments in the fast-emerging Guyana-Suriname Basin. “We are mindful of the substantial Guyanese diaspora living in the United States, and we are hopeful that this cross-trading facility provides an additional opportunity for exposure to exploration drilling outcomes in this prolific basin and the emerging Guyanese exploration success story," said Westmount chairman Gerard Walsh in a statement. Prolific basin The Guyana-Suriname basin is one of the oil industry’s major exploration hotpots. In the last five years, 18 out of 20 exploration wells drilled on the Stabroek Block have met with success, contributing to a discovered inventory of 9bn barrels of oil equivalent. That figure is expected to grow as we move through next year, with stacked petroleum systems, emerging new plays and deeper-lying hydrocarbons confirming the huge potential of this prolific basin. After four years of patiently scaling up its investment positions, Westmount has interests in four companies – two public and two private - that in turn have stakes in assets being developed by ExxonMobil and Tullow. The excitement for 2021 will be provided by three Exxon-drilled wells on the Canje Block, next to Stabroek. Three wells Bulletwood-1 is targeting around 500mln barrels of crude, while Jabillo-1 is estimated to be double that size. Sapote, meanwhile, will assess the deep-lying oil potential of the area. Guyana became South America's newest oil-producing nation thanks to the Liza Phase I development, which came onstream almost exactly a year ago. Liza Phase II and the Payara field are expected to follow, while the pipeline of developments suggest Guyana could be producing as much as 750,000 barrels of oil per day, or around three-quarters of the output of the North Sea. "Westmount is the only quoted junior company on the AIM market that can provide investor access to a portfolio of drilling outcomes on the Canje and Kaieteur blocks, offshore Guyana,” said chairman Walsh. “We have been looking at ways to broaden our investor base and we believe that participation in the OTCQB Market offers a cost-effective way to achieve that objective.”