Jamaica’s House of Representatives has passed the National Reconstruction and Resilience Authority (NaRRA) Bill following a prolonged and contentious sitting that stretched into the early hours of Wednesday morning.

United Oil & Gas Plc has identified potential thermogenic hydrocarbons in piston core samples from its Walton-Morant Licence offshore Jamaica, representing “an established body of evidence for an active petroleum system in Jamaica”.

By Andrew Clunis

Jamaica is busy exploring its waters in search of oil and gas.

And the prospects are good according to energy minister Daryl Vaz. Many will say ‘oh what wonderful news it would be if we were to strike oil. It would rapidly transform the country’s fortunes’.

But would an oil find be a blessing or a curse? What mountains of troubles would we mount upon ourselves?

When you look at the bauxite industry one cannot say we have done the very best we could have with our natural resources.

In an environment of political corruption Jamaica could become the wild wild west of the Caribbean as the big guns battle from outside and within for the oil and gas industry.

When you look at countries like Venezuela and Nigeria you wonder if they wouldn’t have been better off without having to deal with societal ills that arise from the oil and gas industry.

But for what it’s worth it could be a very positive outcome for the country and so we must live in hope.

If you could just imagine for one moment a Jamaica that is able to export oil to our Caribbean neighbours; Just think of the level of road repairs that could be undertaken, hospitals built and equipped, schools upgraded and employment rising all across the board.

Many of our social problems would be eclipsed and we would finally be able to see a Jamaica in which we live peacefully, work, do business, raise families and retire in paradise.  

Life would change drastically for many people. We would be able to retain more intellectual talent at home because there would be good paying jobs to go around.

But we must bear in mind that any oil and gas industry in Jamaica would be run by foreigners and that there may be a healthy build up of resentment given our colonial past. It would require global corporations like Exxon Mobil, Total Energies, Shell and Chevon to pave the way forward and Jamaican stakeholders would have to be prepared to work with them.

Government would have to move swiftly and adeptly to put regulatory frameworks in place with clear policy guidelines that would ensure that our oil doesn’t suffer the same fate as our bauxite did.

This current administration has showed a steady hand in how it handles affairs of this nature but corruption is always lurking around the corner.

How would we safeguard against seeing another monopoly arising? We have seen what monopolisation does to the country through the telecoms sector and the Jamaica Public Service Company.

Well, the next stage is to ‘drill baby drill’ as Mr Trump would say, and until those wells are dug we can’t be certain that there is any oil out there.

United Oil and Gas has borne the costs of exploration so far but Jamaica will have to step to the plate because it will cost between 60 and 70 million US dollars to drill one well.  What will be Jamaica’s input and are we prepared to make that kind of investment? Energy minister Daryl Vaz says it will require drilling up to 14 wells and he is salivating at the prospect of finding oil because that would be his crowning glory as a politician. .

The good thing about this is that any oil and gas discovery will not be sudden so there is more than ample time to get the country ready for such a possibility. There will be many lessons to be learned from Guyana which is profiting greatly from its own discovery. Vaz has indicated that he would be seeking guidance from them and so he should, even at this early stage to make sure we don’t step a foot in the wrong direction.

The People’s National Party (PNP) says it has referred the membership of a former Member of Parliament charged with incest to its internal disciplinary processes for “immediate action”.