The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Environmental activists yesterday urged the Prime Minister to eliminate “the double speak” and clarify whether or not his government will approve any form of oil exploration in Bahamian waters.

Responding to Philip Davis’ remarks upon his return from the global climate change summit in Glasgow, they also questioned how The Bahamas would benefit from carbon credits if it barred exploration outfits from extracting any commercial oil reserves discovered beneath this nation’s seabed.

Sam Duncombe, reEarth’s president, told Tribune Business that The Bahamas would likely have to pay compensation worth hundreds of millions of dollars to Challenger Energy Group (the former Bahamas Petroleum Company) or any other oil explorer that it blocked from realising the financial fruits of their discovery. This, in turn, would offset or negate any perceived carbon credit benefits.

And she argued that The Bahamas could not have it both ways when it came to oil exploration, given that the Prime Minister’s Friday message seemed to say: “We’re not drilling for oil but we are - kind of.”

Mr Davis, in somewhat ambiguous language upon his return from the COP26 conference, seemed to suggest that while his newly-elected administration is opposed to the extraction and commercial exploitation of any commercial oil discoveries within Bahamian water, it was not necessarily against exploratory drilling.

Should the latter activities result in any discoveries, the Prime Minister hinted that The Bahamas would seek to monetise this in a different way via the carbon credit route rather than engage in oil production.

“I am not in any definitive position now to say, but as I speak having come from the COP conference and having had conversations with world leaders, having had conversations with technical people, I am minded not to allow oil drilling and for certain at this time I am not prepared to move toward oil exploitation,” he said.

“Because you could still cap and monetise; you could still exploit. Exploitation is something that I’m not....... with the world going the way it is, I will be going with the world.” Environmental activists, trying to decode Mr Davis, said he seemed to be opposing any extraction but would still permit exploratory drilling to determine if The Bahamas does have any commercial oil sources.

“It is pretty disturbing to be honest. I’m not sure how that is going to work,” Mrs Duncombe said of Mr Davis’ statement. “I don’t know how you can say you are not going to drill for oil, but you are. It’s like saying you are slightly pregnant; you either are, or you are not. It’s either one or the other. I don’t understand what he’s getting at.

“Whether it’s Challenger or someone else, they are not going to say: ‘Here you are, Bahamas. There are hundreds of millions of gallons of oil down here. Here you go; monetise it and make it work’.” These exploration outfits, she added, would all want compensation for not being allowed to extract any oil discoveries, thus offsetting the impact of any carbon credits for the country.

“I’m really tired of the double speak,” Mrs Duncombe added. “There should be a definitive no, we’re not exploring for oil. We’re going to leave the oil in the ground.”

Meanwhile Rashema Ingraham, executive director of Waterkeepers Bahamas, told Tribune Business that “there needs to be no other exploration done”. Given that Challenger’s previous exploration licences have all expired, she argued that the Government should instead monetise these four licence areas for carbon credits rather than move to renew them.

“As there are no active licences of any oil company, the Government is in a position to do that,” she said. “It’s been a flip-flop from all governments, but particularly the PLP administrations, for decades. We need him [the Prime Minister] to say these are the exact intentions of the Government, and how we’re going to go about it.

“If this is his version of environmentally-friendly oil drilling, where we’re not extracting any further, not going to issue any new licences and look at monetising those existing licence areas and wellfields for the benefit of Bahamians via carbon credits, we can see it makes sense as the way forward.

“If we are still pursuing exploration, I completely stand against him and that plan. There is definitely a need for more clarity, and eliminate the amount of buzz words and using those to manipulate or cloud the message. What we don’t want is for the door to be opened or cracked. Small or large, we don’t want to get there. It seems they are leaving loopholes in place if they fall back on the word they have given to The Bahamas and the world.

Casuarina McKinney-Lambert, the Bahamas Reef Environment Educational Foundation (BREEF) executive director, said: “Now is the perfect time to put in place a definitive ban on oil drilling while there are no longer any active oil exploration licences in the country. Following on from the commitments made during COP26, The Bahamas has the chance to truly lead the world.”

She added that she was encouraged by the Prime Minister’s statements both at COP26 and on his return to The Bahamas.