EDITOR, The Tribune.

The news that the Bahamas Petroleum Company has not paid its licensing bills for an undisclosed number of years did not come as a shock. It is exactly what I expected from them. What did surprise me was that the government accepted a mere $900,000 to cancel the bill, which was surely in the millions of dollars. And what was really astonishing is that BPC admitted that it used money from Bahamian investors to pay it!

As far as we know then, this foreign company itself has not invested anything, just ducked their bills and licence obligations for several years and then got the Bahamian public to to bail them out, shortchanging our Public Treasury in the process? Boy, if true, these fellas are slick.

Under any other circumstances, the Bahamian public would be howling for the licenses to be cancelled and for these people to be sent packing back to the UK, but we have been blinded by the idea that oil is the get-rich-quick scheme we have been waiting for and that we will all suddenly become filthy rich.

Well, as far as I’m concerned, the only thing filthy here is the raw deal that they are trying to ram down our throats – that, and our oceans and beaches when this company has no more use for us.

We need to wake up. None of the profits from BPC’s oil drilling will stay in the Bahamas. Just like with tourism and offshore banking, the foreign owners will export all of the money to their homeland and leave us with peanuts.

Except in this case it’s even worse, because at least tourism and banking create jobs. Whereas, how many Bahamians are qualified to drill an offshore well, or have experience working on an oil rig, or are well versed in the relevant health and safety protocols, or have expertise in the geochemical processes involved? No, sir, these jobs are all going to foreigners.

Should we simply trust that BPC cares about Bahamians and will make sure there is something in it for us? Well let’s look at their track record. First, they fail to pay their bills to the Bahamas for years and failed to disclose how much they actually owed. Then, they short change the Public Treasury and get Bahamians to pay a reduced sum for them. And now, they have announced that their new plan is to start drilling in October, even their own Environmental Impact Assessment pledges not to drill during Hurricane Season because of the very high risks involved (risks for our environment and economy). This is not the behaviour of a good partner.

I believe Bahamians have been duped and lulled into a false sense of security on this issue. It is time to wake up. There is nothing in BPC’s plan for us and we have everything to lose. We need to cancel those licences before it’s too late.

RICARDO JOHNSON

Nassau,

May 25, 2020.