NASSAU, Bahamas, December 21, 2020 — Bahamas Petroleum Company (BPC) has begun drilling its exploratory oil well, company officials announced in a press release today, according to The Tribune, one of The Bahamas’ leading newspapers.
According to BPC, the well was ‘spud’ on Sunday, December 20 at 06.30 EST and is anticipated to take 45 – 60 days to complete, The Tribune reported.
Simon Potter, BPC CEO, was quoted as saying in a press release: “We are very pleased to announce that the drilling of the exploratory well, Perseverance #1 has commenced – the well has been spud. This is a momentous milestone for both BPC and The Bahamas and represents the culmination of more than ten 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 – 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 licences: a potential uplift that is the traditional domain of the ‘oil majors’.
“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 $120 million 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.
“I very much look forward to updating shareholders with results once the well has been completed. The next several weeks will be a truly exciting time for BPC.”
The Tribune noted that the announcement “comes as opposition mounts to the oil drilling,” further pointing out that “activists have filed an application for judicial review to stop the process and last week a group of US Congressmen and women wrote to Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis asking him to stop oil exploration in Bahamian waters.”
As reported in BAHAMAS CHRONICLE on Friday, December 18, Florida Congressman Alcee L. Hastings (D-FL) and 17 fellow Members of the United States Congress sent a letter to Prime Minister Minnis and the Minister of the Environment and Housing, Romauld Ferreira, urging The Bahamas government to reconsider allowing the Bahamas Petroleum Company (BPC) oil-drilling project to continue, “given the immediate and long-term impacts an oil spill and carbon emissions have on natural ecosystems, local economies, and the global climate crisis.”
Sent electronically from Rep. Hastings’ Fort Lauderdale office on Thursday, December 17, the letter was also signed by Representatives Ted Deutch (D-FL), Gerald E. Connolly (D-VA), Kathy Castor (D-FL), Darren Soto (D-FL), Charlie Crist (D-FL), Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), Lois Frankel (D-FL), Nydia M. Velázquez (D-NY), Francis Rooney (R-FL), A. Donald McEachin (D-VA), Al Lawson (D-FL), Alan Lowenthal (D-CA), Chellie Pingree (D-ME), Abigail D. Spanberger (D-VA), David Scott (D-GA), Debbie Mucarsel-Powell (D-FL), and Donna E. Shalala (D-FL).
