Oil companies have long been good stewards in countries in which they operate, building schools, hospitals, roads, etc., to help out the indigenous population. Susan Morrice, founder and chairwoman of Belize Natural Energy (BNE), is going one step beyond — she and her company are actually creating an energy industry in a country where none existed before.

BNE discovered oil in commercial quantities in 2005, completed a pipeline system and gathering facility in 2007, and currently sells Belize Light Crude both locally and internationally. Within two years of the discovery the company was a fully operational organization that eventually became one of the largest employers in the country and the largest single taxpayer.

In 2008 BNE expanded its operations through technological advancements such as a more modern ship to handle increased production, a second drilling rig, and an advanced monitoring tool to track tanker delivery trucks by satellite. By the fall of that year the Statistical Institute of Belize confirmed that crude sales accounted for 60% of Belize’s export earnings. Currently the company has 10 wells producing 4,600 b/d of oil in the Spanish Lookout field. It has plans to drill five exploration wells and four development wells this year.

“It was always Mike’s dream to ignite the energies of the people,” Morrice said.

An unrelenting conviction

There are several astonishing things about this story. First of all was Morrice’s unshakable belief that Belize actually had hydrocarbon reserves — 50 dry holes from other companies were enough to convince most geologists to run screaming from the place. She had other ideas.

“Geologists have a knack of being able to go back through time,” she said. “If you do that in Belize, you realize that Belize, Guatemala, and Mexico are all one basin. We’re in the major producing Mexican basin.”

In 2002 she joined forces with Mike Usher, got backing from people who believed her story, and began making plans. Unfortunately, Usher died in 2004, but not before instilling in Morrice and others the firm commitment to not only continue the search for oil but also to make sure that the people in the country were beneficiaries of any oil that was found.

“His dream was to transform the country,” Morrice said. “He could see the potential in the people that was not being realized.”

A year to the day after Usher’s death, BNE struck oil on its very first wildcat, something practically unheard of in the industry. In honor of her fallen partner, Morrice named all of the subsequent wells after him.

Another astonishing note is the speed at which the company has evolved from that first discovery to being an integrated oil company. Gilbert Canton, CEO of BNE, said it’s been a major achievement.

“There was nothing here in Belize,” he said. “There was no oil, so there was no infrastructure. You can imagine having a discovery and then trying to see what you’re going to do with this oil going forward. In three years we were able to develop that whole chain from production to controlling our shipping into the refineries.

“That had to be put together with people in Belize who really had no inkling of what oil production was all about. That was a tremendous technical feat.”

Morrice added that after the discovery well was drilled and tested, Belizeans showed up with their trucks to carry the oil across the Maya Mountains to the banana port. “The first local entrepreneurs were really those truckers who came in convoys and took this precious commodity out into the markets,” she said.

Since then the company has purchased its own drilling rig to reduce costs, increase employment, and generate greater cash flow.

The ‘dream trust’

The final aspect that makes BNE unique is its devotion to improving the lives of the people of Belize. Canton said that the company is 95% Belizeans. And the introduction of an oil market to this developing country is opening up more opportunities than just jobs.

“We’re trying to improve on the more tangible benefits, and we’ve been able to do that by looking at things like downstream processing,” he said. “We put in a gas recovery plant that will take out NGLs from the associated gas instead of flaring it, which has environmental connotations.” He said the plant produces about 3,000 to 5,000 gallons a day of butane/propane mix, about 20% of the local demand.

“That goes right to the mom in a tiny village who buys propane to do her cooking,” Morrice added. “We’re pushing to give them a less expensive product to do their cooking, and our goals now are for gas and diesel and then eventually electricity.” She said electricity costs are higher in Belize than they are in the US, which further stifles entrepreneurism.

Though much of the company’s profit is reinvested into further development, it has also established what Morrice calls a “dream trust,” a fund created in partnership with the local government to help Belizeans improve their standard of living. Already BNE has worked with partners on educational and environmental projects, and eventually it hopes to use part of the trust for micro-financing so that loans can be given to Belizeans wishing to start their own businesses.

“It was always Mike’s dream to ignite the energies of the people,” Morrice said. “The micro-lending facility will allow and encourage Belizeans to come forward with their ideas, their dreams, and get training and seed capital to follow them through. That holistic model of total development of a country — it’s a win-win-win partnership with the people, the government, and the country. I think that’s what has made a difference.”

In fact, Canton and Morrice have been asked to speak several times about the business model and have met with a number of officials from developing nations who want it replicated in their own countries. It’s already working miracles in Belize, and it’s not likely to change — the philosophy is written into the company’s charter.

“We’re unique in the sense that we have this philosophy,” Canton said. “The objectives are different; the goals are different. Yes, we’re profit-oriented, but it’s more than that. It’s about developing an industry in Belize that will transform it.”

The unparalleled success of BNE can be attributed to the technology behind all technologies, Morrice said — that of the potential of the mind. “Since inception, the board has worked tirelessly with Human Potential Research (HPR), bringing the investment group together and creating alignment within the company to achieve the ‘invincible dream’ — to discover oil and transform a nation for the good of all,” she said.