Bahamas: Bahamas announces new Petroleum Act to govern oil exploration

The Bahamas government Wednesday said it has completed the preparation of a new Petroleum Act and a suite of regulations designed to guide and govern oil exploration in country.

Environment and Housing Minister Kenred M.A. Dorsett said the legislation and regulations will form “an integral part” of the recently announced National Energy policy.

“This new legislative package will as well include the legislative framework for a Sovereign Wealth Fund to ensure that in the event oil is discovered in commercially viable quantities, the wealth that will accrue to the country as a result will be invested, managed and conserved in the majority optimal way for present and next generations of Bahamians.”

He said the new legislative package will be introduced to Parliament as any minute at this time as it meets following the short recess.

Dorsett said that the new legislative regime will ensure that exploration for oil in The Bahamas will be undertaken in a safe and environmentally responsible manner, consistent with international standards, best practices and the majority up-to-date risk management, health and safety protocols.

“It goes without saying, that if oil is discovered in commercially viable quantities in The Bahamas, it will have a massively transformative result on our fortunes as a people. It will allow us to deliver on our commitment to eliminate the fiscal deficit while at the same time providing a platform for the systematic reduction in the cost of electricity on a sustained basis for consumers both residential and commercial.”

“Longer term, it will vastly increase the wealth of the country through the creation of a flourishing new industrial sector and a sovereign wealth fund, one that has the potential of enriching the country beyond its imagination.”

But Dorsett said that while it is “obviously significant that we not count our chickens before they are hatched” it is as well “so significant that we put in place a new, modernized, up-to-date legislative framework…that will enable us to find out, through licensed and properly regulated exploration, just what we have in the way of petroleum resources.

“If as a result of such exploration, we do discover oil in commercially significant quantities, we will by presently have put in place a legislative regime to ensure that we make the best of it in an environmentally responsible way and in a way that will ensure the best possible financial returns for our country.”

He said Bahamians can rest assured, that the Perry Christie government “remains resolute to its commitment to actualizing those objectives”.