By: Staff Writer
December 25, 2020
The Bahamas Petroleum Company’s (BPC) chief announced that the company has started to drill for oil in The Bahamas as first well has been spudded.
Simon Potter, chief executive officer of BPC, said in a release: “We are very pleased to announce that the drilling of the exploratory well, Perseverance #1 has commenced – the well has been spud.”
The release added: “This is a momentous milestone for both BPC and The Bahamas and represents the culmination of more than 10 years work by a team who have remained steadfast in their belief in this project throughout – that it is finally taking place is a testament to the application, skill and professionalism of many people over those years.
“The well will be drilled to the highest environmental and safety standards over the next 45 to 60 days. Our shareholders have been extremely patient, but we are now within a couple of months of understanding the scale of potential resource uplift that might be accessed within the licenses: a potential uplift that is the traditional domain of the oil majors.”
The drilling for oil in The Bahamas has been met with opposition from environmentalists who sought to bring an injunction against the company for drilling in Bahamian waters. The action has seemingly failed as there was no follow up and as Mr Potter has revealed the drilling has started.
Adding more confusion to the atmosphere around oil drilling, the government of The Bahamas, who claimed that they were only following through with an arrangement that the previous administration left in place, claimed that they were glad that the environmentalists came out against oil drilling. But only to now join in with BPC in opposing, or trying to block efforts of the environmentalists court proceedings.
BPC’s release also said: ““More than a decade ago BPC secured several offshore hydrocarbon licences in the far-southern waters of The Bahamas. Convinced of the compelling prospectivity of those licences, the company has spent close to $120m bettering our technical understanding, continuing to de-risk the play, and ultimately preparing meticulously for exploration drilling. Our 3D seismic survey revealed structures that have the potential to contain a world class, multi-billion barrel oil resource that, if present in the way we hope, could prove to be transformative – not just for our company, but for the nation and people of The Bahamas as a whole.”
Simon Potter has been reported in the press claiming that if drilling were to be stopped or halted it would cost BPC $400,000 daily.
Drilling for oil in The Bahamas has gotten international attention from the United States as US Florida representative, Alcee Hastings, wrote a letter to the Dr Hubert Minnis Free National Movement led government, warning them about the dangers of oil drilling and wishing for the government of The Bahamas to stop, citing environmental risks to not only The Bahamas but also to Florida.
The pleas of representative Hastings and the environmentalists have fallen on deaf ears it appears as BPC goes ahead with their efforts.