The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Oil exploration opponents last night said the fight against drilling is not over despite the Bahamas Petroleum Company’s (BPC) failure to strike a commercial find as they renewed calls for a lasting ban.

Local environmental activists and their allies argued that “the books are not closed” even though BPC this week announced it is plugging its Perseverance One well and switching its attention to other assets in Trinidad & Tobago, Suriname and Uruguay.

“The books are not closed on this drill. The public deserves to know more about what happened with the Perseverance One well. It was clear from BPC’s after-action statement that there were problems with the drilling,” said Chris Wilke, global advocacy manager for the US-based Waterkeeper Alliance.

“Where is the drilling report? Where is the geologist report? Why did the drill stop at 3,900 metres when they planned to go to 4,800 metres? Pre-drill indications showed usable oil would likely be at much greater depths. We still need independent verification that this well is 100 percent plugged capped and secure”.

Rashema Ingraham, executive director of Waterkeepers Bahamas, one of two environmental groups behind the ongoing Judicial Review challenge to BPC’s permits and approvals, added: “Given the alarming secrecy of documents held between the Bahamian government and BPC, the public has no assurance that... BPC does not have government permission continue drilling a second and third well. The public has a right to know what seabed rights our government has or has not sold away, and under what terms.”

Casuarina McKinney-Lambert, the Bahamas Reef Environment Educational Foundation’s (BREEF) executive director, added: “Once the Government releases BPC’s contractual documents, we will know where we stand on BPC’s ability to drill further wells.

Beyond that, it is absolutely time to call on the Government to institute a permanent oil drilling moratorium and finally eliminate this threat to our ecosystems, economy, and public safety at large. The Prime Minister and many others have stated that they are ‘totally opposed’ to oil drilling Bahamian waters. Now is the moment to make sure that, given the failure of Perseverance One, no new wells are drilled in the future.”

BPC, in a long release that portrayed the situation as the equivalent of a “glass half full”, said drilling to a depth of 3,900 metres had detected the presence of hydrocarbons but not enough to make it commercially viable at that site.

It added, though, that the Perseverance One well’s findings had made the “technical” case that commercial oil reserves may be located in areas covered by some of its four other licences and it was not giving up on The Bahamas just yet.

While the data collected from its exploratory drilling has yet to be reviewed and presented to the Bahamian government, as required by its licence terms, BPC indicated that there was sufficient justification to consider drilling further exploratory wells in addition to continuing the search for a joint venture partner.

“The company considers the results from Perseverance One, notably the confirmation of migrated oil within the Aptian reservoirs, will significantly reduce technical risk for any future/further exploration in this new frontier province,” BPC’s statement said.

“In particular, BPC considers that the results from Perseverance One may provide a strong technical basis for renewed farm-in discussions, with a view to future drilling at other target locations within BPC’s licence areas.” This leaves open the possibility that BPC may resume exploration in other Bahamian licence fields.

However, the statement made clear that BPC’s short-term focus is now switching from The Bahamas to its recently-acquired prospects in Trinidad and Suriname, where it hopes to achieve production of 2,500 barrels of oil per day this year, plus its newly-acquired exploration rights off the Uruguayan coast.

Simon Potter, BPC’s chief executive, said: “Perseverance One is the first exploration well in The Bahamas for decades, and the data gathered from this well will prove invaluable in providing a modern analysis as to the regional potential of the petroleum system which, in our view, reduces technical risk for any future/further exploration in this new frontier province.

“The company will proceed to undertake a comprehensive evaluation of the data derived from the well, as we believe the results provide a sound technical basis for renewed farm-in discussions.”

Meanwhile, Barry Smith of Paradise Cove Resort, said: “As a boutique hotel operator, this whole thing is very simple. The Bahamian economy is built on tourism. Oil drilling is dirty and dangerous. What the rest of the world has already learned, and I pray The Bahamas never does, is when you drill, you spill.”