By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Bahamas Petroleum Company (BPC) yesterday hailed a Supreme Court verdict that likely removes all obstacles to completion of its first exploratory oil well within the scheduled 45-60 day timeframe.

The oil explorer, in a statement issued last night, argued that Justice Petra Hanna-Adderley's decision not to grant a "stay" that would have halted its Perseverance One well meant Bahamians will "likely know within four to six weeks whether they are an oil-rich nation".

While the Supreme Court gave BPC's opponents permission to proceed with their Judicial Review challenge to the project's permits and approvals, the hearing on the merits of their claim will likely only take place between February 17-18 at the earliest.

Given that Perseverance One, which has been spud in waters 90 miles west of Andros, started on December 20, 2020, and is estimated to take between 45-60 days to complete, there is every possibility that exploratory drilling will have finished or be near to finishing by the time the court date comes around. The February 17, 2021, date is some 59 days after the drilling started.

Simon Potter, BPC's chief executive, argued that Justice Hanna-Adderley's ruling will allow the company, the Government and Bahamian people to soon know whether commercial quantities of extractable oil exist beneath this country's waters.

While analysis of the results may take slightly longer than the four to six weeks indicated, Mr Potter said: "Today’s court ruling means that the drilling of Perseverance One will continue, in accordance with our licence obligations and consistent with the permits issued to BPC by the Government of The Bahamas.

"Those drilling operations, which have been underway since December 20, 2020, have the well on track to provide results within the 45 to 60-day period the company has consistently advised. It is thus clear now that the environmentalist applicants have failed in their last-minute attempt to interrupt the drilling of Perseverance One and the Government’s legitimate assessment of hydrocarbon resource potential in the southern seas of The Bahamas."

Justice Hanna-Adderley's ruling allows both sides to claim victory. BPC got the main result it was after, which is the uninterrupted continuation of drilling and the avoidance of any court-imposed halt that may have cost it $25m in extra direct costs at the rate of $350,000-$400,000 per day.

BPC had previously warned that its "major $100m asset will be extinguished", thereby threatening its survival, if the Supreme Court halted its oil drilling activities. Mr Potter had alleged that it would be impossible for the company to apply for the renewal of its five southern Bahamian licences by the March 31, 2021, deadline unless it was able to complete its Perseverance Once exploratory well within the targeted 45-60 days.

And, ominously, he warned that any Supreme Court-enforced drilling halt that deprived BPC of its ability to rely on the Environmental Authorisation (EA) approval granted by the Government on February 25, 2020, could "impair The Bahamas' reputation as a reliable and predictable investment destination". And, "at worst", Mr Potter said it could spark multiple legal claims in numerous countries.

As for the environmental activists, their Judicial Review challenge to the project's permits and approvals moves on. However, Mr Potter said: "Notwithstanding this positive outcome for completing Perseverance One well, the company will continue to vigorously oppose any applications for Judicial Review if they continue to proceed.

"This is because whilst the court has today granted the applicants leave to bring their applications, that is all that it is: Leave to bring an action. These applications now still need to be brought, heard and determined, and BPC remains firm in its view that the applications themselves are without substantive legal merit, and will not withstand the scrutiny of a full and vigorous legal process.

"Equally, prior to that, a number of important issues remain to be resolved, including the question of BPC being included as a party, and the question of the applicants providing security for costs, and BPC considers it important to ensure that each of these items is dealt with according to law such that the applicants be held accountable for the consequences of their actions.”

Joe Darville, chairman of Save the Bays, one of the two environmental groups bringing the action, described himself as "ecstatic" over yesterday's ruling. He added: "Oil drilling should not proceed if it is not conducted in accordance with the law and not in the best interest of our people."

However, Casuarina McKinney, the Bahamas Reef Environment Educational Foundation (BREEF) executive director, was more circumspect.

She told Tribune Business: "The judge's decision to allow the Judicial Review to proceed is a huge victory for the environment and for the rights of Bahamians to be heard on something that affects all of us.

"We are very concerned that the drilling rig is still continuing off the west side of Andros because of the impact to the environment that is happening right now.... Oil drilling in our waters is a serious threat to current and future generations of Bahamians and needs to be considered very carefully, not rushed into under a cloud of secrecy.'