By AVA TURNQUEST
Tribune Staff Reporter
aturnquest@tribunemedia.net
SHARES in the Bahamas Petroleum Company jumped 20 per cent yesterday in the wake of the General Election that returned the Progressive Liberal Party to power.
The 2012 election campaign had been a source of anxiety for investors, according to market reports, which pointed to volatility in recent trading.
BPC plc's stocks fell by a fourth of its market value following former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham's comments earlier this month that his government would not allow oil drilling or future exploration without additional regulations.
Concerns were heightened after it was revealed that the oil company had links to executive PLP leadership and senior party members.
Prime Minister Perry Christie is a former consultant for the oil company's Bahamian legal team. Mr Christie said he was hired through law firm Davis & Co, run by Deputy Prime Minister Brave Davis.
Former PLP attorney general Sean McWeeney's law firm, Graham Thompson & Co is also listed on the BPC's website, which lists PLP candidate for Killarney Jerome Gomez as its resident manager.
While the party has previously stated that it will pursue oil and natural gas opportunities, Mr Christie told supporters at a rally last week that any decision to drill would be put to a referendum.
The PLP has been historically supportive of explorations for oil and natural gas deposits in the country's territorial waters. While no previous efforts have led to oil findings, local and international interests peaked after a rumoured oil discovery in the 1970s.
In 1992, then-Minister of Trade Mr Christie granted a three-year licence for a California-based oil company to search for oil and gas in northern Bahamas.
In 2002, then-Minister of Trade and Industry Leslie Miller confirmed that several multi-billion-dollar companies were currently engaged in explorations. At that time, Mr Miller told The Tribune that there was a 'very distinct' possibility that oil would be discovered, and explained that high costs and poor technology prohibited extraction efforts during the 1979 oil discovery.
BPC began negotiations with the Christie administration for the necessary approvals to look for oil in 2005. In 2010 - after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico - the Ingraham administration placed a moratorium on new oil exploration or drilling licenses.
Earlier this year, BPC stated that it planned to commence drilling on a test well within the year, and no later than April 2013. The company's licences and permits expired last month and were not renewed by the Ingraham-led administration.
In March, former Minister for the Environment Earl Deveaux said proposed amendments to regulations governing oil exploration had been developed, but that it will be up to the next administration to decide whether to address them.
Speaking at his swearing-in ceremony yesterday, Mr Christie downplayed his involvement as a consultant and chastised Mr Ingraham's attempt to insinuate foulplay during the 2012 election campaign.
He said: "I was a consultant to the law firm. This law firm was started by Hubert Ingraham and myself. We brought in Philip Davis, who became effectively the big partner in the firm and doing the legal work. So when I demitted office as Prime Minister, I became a consultant on diverse matters for that firm."
He said Mr Ingraham's attempt to malign his character was totally unacceptable given their long-standing relationship as colleagues and law partners.
Mr Christie added: "Mr Ingraham was really making a mountain out of a mole hill."
Comments
Arob 12 years, 4 months ago
Shares value up! Good for shareholders. What about us, the Bahamians. Don't we deserve to know how far the BPC web have infiltrated our policy makers. Looking forward to the new Prime Minister's libel suit against the FNM concerning the new PM and the Deputy PM's "past" employment with BPC. Closure is needed.
spoitier 12 years, 4 months ago
You could be a shareholder also, this is how the rich get's richer.
dacy 12 years, 4 months ago
BLACK GOLD RUSH
BoopaDoop 12 years, 4 months ago
Now that the PM and Deputy PM are government ministers, who will be legal advisors to BPC? I wonder what was put in place to make the plan unfold on target.
notsogullible 12 years, 4 months ago
They will continue to be the advisors - in true PLP fashion - it just won't be public information
spoitier 12 years, 4 months ago
BSHPF and BSHPY are the two ticker symbol associated with BPC, instead of Bahamians rowing over what the PLP will do or not do, just go ahead and buy some stocks because they will do it and by the way the FNM or the DNA was going to do it also because it makes sense. The government and cabinet ministers usually gets rich of back door deals and buying up shares in companies because of insider trading, but now is the time for the average Bahamian to do their homework and take a gamble.
concernedcitizen 12 years, 4 months ago
the ex president of bpc said what a good man christie was and how careful he will be ,,,what an endorsement ,,if we are going to drill for oil lets do it w/ a company that has the money should anything go wrong ,,not some fly by night that has to do an ipo to raise money to drill,,the first spill and bpc will vanish into thin air ,,prime minister christie think and pray because this could be your legacy
spoitier 12 years, 4 months ago
I could some what agree with that but the PLP is already in bed with them so I would advise any Bahamian to get something out of the deal, instead of letting Christie, Davis, Gibson and the rest of them be the only one to gain.
Danie 12 years, 4 months ago
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/NO-OIL… <- Petition against oil drilling in The Bahamas.
concernedcitizen 12 years, 4 months ago
yeah spoitier your right ,the cakes already cut and guess who gets very little the country and the small man, except maybe talrussell but she doesn,t comment now on murder or oil...
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