There could be a substantial oil deposit in Jamaican waters:
A company that has been exploring for oil in Jamaica says it has seen indications that there could be up to three billion barrels of crude in the country’s waters.
Sagres Energy, the parent of Canadian firm Rainville Energy, received a licence to explore for oil on June 15th, 2006, and Special Projects Manager of the Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica (PCJ), Dr. Raymond Wright, says one of the prospects identified in the company’s seismic work “is considered to be rather large”.
…
President and Chief Geologist of Sagres Energy, David Johnson, said that the evaluation provided a better understanding of the tremendous resource potential that exist in Jamaica.“With the combination of nine of 11 historical Jamaican wells with oil shows, three mature sources, two potential reservoirs, and large structures, we believe that it is only a matter of time before a large untapped commercial resource is discovered in Jamaica,” he said.
Find out more from Caribbean 360.
Meanwhile in The Bahamas, the government has put a temporary halt to oil exploration activities:
The government announced yesterday that it has taken a policy decision to suspend consideration of all applications for oil exploration and drilling in the waters of The Bahamas.
“The Ministry of The Environment believes that this prudent policy requirement is in the best interest of The Bahamas and the social, economic and environmental well-being of future generations of Bahamian citizens and visitors,”said a statement released to the press.
Minister for the Environment Dr. Earl Deveaux later said in an interview withThe Nassau Guardianthat the government has received an accelerated number of applications from companies wishing to conduct exploration and oil drilling activities in Bahamian waters.
He said the Deepwater Horizon oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico this summer–the largest oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry–was also taken into consideration.
Deveaux said there is a real likelihood of finding oil in The Bahamas.
“And so we need to be positioned to accommodate that likelihood,”he said.
“We want to have the most stringent protocols in place to manage it so that we live in an unpolluted marine environment.”
Read more from the Nassau Guardian here and here.
Previously on Green Antilles: Deep-water oil exploration in Jamaica, Oil spill concerns in The Bahamas, Oil exploration in The Bahamas.
[Photo: arbyreed]
