US Geothermal to resume drilling program in Guatemala
Atitlan volcano, Guatemala (source: flickr/ Chitio Rendón, creative commons)
Francisco Rojas
24 Jul 2015
USG: "Preparations are underway to restart our drilling program. The first activity planned will be the drilling of well EC-2."
U.S. Geothermal Guatemala, S.A.received final notification that the modified schedule for the El Ceibillo project was approved by the Minister of Energy and Mines. Notification of the approval by Ministerial Agreement was received on Tuesday, July 21.
The Ministerial Agreement was published in the official newspaper, Diario de Centro America, on Wednesday, July 22 which starts an 8 day public comment period. The concession contract will be changed with an amendment that is expected to be signed within the next 30 days. The new modified schedule has the commercial operation date for the first phase of the project occurring during the second quarter of 2018.
Preparations are underway to restart our drilling program. The first activity planned will be the drilling of well EC-2.
“We are excited to receive approval of our modified schedule for El Ceibillo and to restart our drilling program,” said Doug Glaspey, President and Chief Operating Officer. “The schedule modification was initially requested in late 2013. While it has taken extra time for the Ministry to develop new protocols for handling changes in private geothermal concessions, we are pleased to have now received the necessary approval. We remain optimistic in Guatemala’s need for clean, domestic power generation, and believe it has an abundance of geothermal resources that can be developed under the right conditions. We wish to thank the new Minister of Energy and Mines for his help in this process and for the Ministry’s continued support for our project.”
FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT: Saf Dhillon – Investor Relations U.S. Geothermal Inc. Tel: 866-687-7059 saf@usgeothermal.com
Source: Press Release by US Geothermal
