No exploratory oil well drilling for Bahamas Petroleum Company (BPC) in Bahamian waters ...until the regulations that will oversee the industry are in place

No drilling before regulations in place

Minister says BPC license renewal came with ‘new requirements’

Scieska Adderley
Guardian Business Reporter
scieska@nasguard.com

The Bahamas Petroleum Company (BPC) will not be permitted to drill any exploratory wells in Bahamian waters until the regulations that will oversee the industry are completed.

According to Minister of the Environment and Housing Kenred Dorsett, these regulations will not be completed before the end of the year.

“You won’t see exploratory oil drills this year, that’s for sure,” he confirmed.

Last week, Simon Potter, BPC’s chief executive officer, revealed that the government has renewed the company’s five exploration licenses for another three years.

However, as part of its conditions for renewal, Dorsett said his ministry imposed new requirements that would ensure that no drilling would take place until the new regulations are in place.

“BPC’s license has been renewed. Under the license that they had, they indicated that renewal would be automatic once they applied for it and met a certain condition,” he said.

“Those conditions have been met but in addition to that, the government has imposed new requirements, which ensure that there will be no drilling whatsoever being able to be advanced until the new regulations are put in place.”

“We have indicated to them that while the license is renewed, it will also be subjected to a new environmental regulation that we intend to advance.”

Dorsett noted that his ministry is working with the attorney general’s office on the new regulations that will include a new legislative framework relating to oil exploration and drilling.

“As we indicated before, we are not only looking at the new legislative regime or petroleum exploration, but we are also looking to enhance the environmental aspects associated with that endeavor,” said Dorsett.

“So they will be subjected to those environmental regulations, which we are currently working on with the attorney general’s office.

“BPC has given us a timeframe for the end of this calendar year and so we are working assiduously to attempt to have it completed before then.”

In a recent interview with Guardian Business, Potter revealed that these license renewals now give the company the “authority” to drill a well and establish commercial reserves by 2015.

“The government has renewed our licenses for three years. That says to us by April 2015, you are to have drilled a well here in The Bahamas,” he said.

“This gives us the authority to go ahead and drill our well and try to establish those commercial reserves by 2015.”

Potter estimates the company will begin its oil drilling program in the latter part of 2014.

BPC was granted five oil exploration licenses in April 2007.

To date, BPC has invested $50 million in the country, with most of that spent on 3D seismic testing, and has completed its environmental impact assessment (EIA). Now, the company is working on its environmental management plan (EMP) to meet its 2015 obligation to the government.

July 31, 2013

thenassauguardian

Caribbean Blog International

Tommy Turnquest - National Security chief says: measures are in place to protect The Bahamas’ multi-million dollar crawfish industry from poachers...

Measures are in place to protect crawfish industry
By CHESTER ROBARDS
Business Reporter
crobards@tribunemedia.net:



The National Security chief said yesterday that measures have been put in place to protect this country’s multi-million dollar crawfish industry from poachers who can remove up to $22million worth of the product per annum from Bahamian waters.

Tommy Turnquest said a defence force ship as well as a smaller, faster craft, have been assigned to patrol the Great Bahama Bank where poachers have been spotted and confronted by Bahamian fishermen in the past.

He cautioned fishermen not to approach the poachers if they happened upon them but to call for assistance.

“We don’t expect Bahamian fishermen to be out there in a fight by themselves,” Mr Turnquest said.

He added that for the greatest protection of this country’ marine resources, the Great Bahama Bank is where the defence force has been stationed.

According to him, the construction of a new defence force base at Gun Pointe on Ragged Island will bolster the protection of the bank by providing easier, faster access for patrol boats.

However, fisherman in the past have complained that calls to the defence force have led to nothing but inaction, and they insist that poachers are often simply released with their illegal catch shortly after being captured by authorities.

With the crawfish season just five days old, and Bahamian fishermen facing the challenges of a new catch system that will allow their crawfish tails to be traded with European Countries, they are even more desperate than ever to pull in large hauls.

Last year saw an almost 50 per cent decline in the price of crawfish due to the global recession.

And at the beginning of the year, this country saw the makings of a trade embargo on crawfish tails to the EU due to the absence of a tracking system called the catch certificate.

Representatives of the fisheries sector told Tribune Business recently that the certificate was key to restarting trade, while adhering to the Marine Stewardship Council's (MSC) - the world's leading environmental certification programme for wild-caught fisheries - mandates.

Glenn Pritchard, president of Tropical Seafood, and Mia Isaacs, president of the Bahamas Marine Exporters Association (BMEA), said implementing the catch certificate will be the most important focus for the fisheries industry, as the Bahamas would not be allowed to trade with the EU if the chain of custody for lobster tails is not certified by use of those certificates.

The certificates will allow purchasing entities to trace catches from their possession all the way back to the fishing boat that made the catch - and possibly even back to the exact spot in the Bahamas the product was caught.

This requirement is part of a global mandate to help countries ensure their food exports are safe and traceable, and that they keep their marine resources in check to ensure sustainability.

While certification from the MSC is voluntary at this time, many importers of this country’s lobster tails are increasingly demanding that the country be certified in an effort to combat Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing issues.

When the Bahamas brings into force the MSC certification it is likely that many poachers, who are said to come form the Dominican Republic, will find a closed market for their product.

Mr Turnquest told Tribune Business in April that his department was investigating possible links between poachers and Defence Force officers. According to him, “intelligence operations are in place”.

However, he said yesterday that those efforts have yet to yield any findings to substantiate those claims.

Mr Turnquest said the Government is diligently attempting to resolve the poaching problem which exists within the Bahamas’ 100,000 square mile maritime border and the possibility that some Bahamians, even within the institution charged with policing these waters, are abetting it.

“We have in place some systems,” he said. “We have a limited amount of persons who know where these vessel go, but we continue to monitor it.”

August 06, 2010

tribune242

Bahamas Blog International

Earlin Williams Korean Fishing Boats Saga

Attorneys for Earlin Williams, president of Netsiwill Holdings Limited, want the Supreme Court to overturn a determination made by Agriculture and Fisheries Minister V. Alfred Gray that the Korean fishing vessels were not fully Bahamian owned

Minister Sued Over Korean Boats

By Candia Dames

Nassau, The Bahamas

19/03/2004

The saga of the Korean fishing boats takes on a new dimension as the owners take the government to court seeking to quash a decision withdrawing their permission to fish in Bahamian waters.

Attorneys for Earlin Williams, president of Netsiwill Holdings Limited, want the Supreme Court to overturn a determination made by Agriculture and Fisheries Minister V. Alfred Gray that the vessels were not fully Bahamian owned.

His attorneys plan to argue that Minister Gray had no power under law to cancel the permit, as the boats were fully owned by a Bahamian entity.

Mr. Williams insisted Thursday that, "The boats were mine at the outset of the mortgage."

His company reportedly secured the $2.5 million mortgage from Koreans for the vessels.  Mr. Williams has since said that the Koreans turned ownership of the boats over to him for $1.

After determining that the boats were not fully Bahamian owned, Minister Gray revoked Netsiwill's permit to conduct commercial fishing in Bahamian waters.  The Department of Fisheries also revoked the registration certificate for the vessels.

"I'm still curious as to how the Customs authorities were in a position to revoke my duty-free status," Mr. Williams told the Journal.

He added that the Minister "misdirected himself" in the actions he took.

"I'm going to court to compel the Minister to follow his statutory duty," Mr. Williams said.

After the revocation of the permit and certificate, the Bahamas Customs Department ordered Mr. Williams to pay $650,000 in customs duty as the boats were no longer duty free.

The action by Mr. Williams would come only days after the government took the matter to court, asking for an order of condemnation which would give the government the freedom to dispose of the vessels in the manner it sees fit.

Minister Gray told the Journal Thursday night that the government is seeking to "confiscate" the vessels so that they can be sold to the public.

Mr. Williams has said that in the worst-case scenario, he would find the $650,000 needed to clear the boats, 15 of which are impounded at Morgan's Bluff, Andros.  The larger vessel, known as the mother ship, remains docked off Grand Bahama.

But he indicated Thursday that push has not yet come to shove.

Mr. Williams said that his fishing operation would be "a super golden opportunity for the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries under the new regime of the Progressive Liberal Party government to show its ability to think outside the box and to live up to the fundamentals of economic empowerment for a forgotten people."

He also said that, "The special interests and other peculiar proclivities have kidnapped the Minister's attention and paralysed the Cabinet and personalities are being given centre stage when the role of the government is to lift up the people."

But Minister Gray said he acted within the law when he revoked the permit and certificate.

"I stand by the position we took," he told the Journal.  "Fishing in The Bahamas is reserved for Bahamians and [Mr. Williams and his group] could not prove that [they fully owned the vessels.]"

Minister Gray said that there were several infractions of the law as it relates to the proposed fishing venture.

He said Central Bank approval was never granted for the purchase of the vessels.

The Minister said that Mr. Williams was "going in the wrong direction" in taking the matter to court.

But he added that, "They have a right to file. The courts are available for everybody."

Buyers Are Interested In Earlin Williams Korean Boats

The Customs Management Act gives Customs officials the authority to put up for sale any item for which duties have not been paid after a given period of time.  Months after waiting for payment, Customs authorities appear poised to auction the vessels.

Buyers Want Korean Boats

By Candia Dames

candiadames@hotmail.com

Nassau, The Bahamas

11/03/2004

Government officials intend to seek a court order to have the 16 Korean fishing boats "condemned", which would give them the freedom to dispose of the vessels as they see fit, the Journal has learnt.

The 16 boats at the heart of the controversy that involved Korean investors were due to be auctioned before the end of the month, with unnamed buyers already expressing an interest in purchasing the vessels.

But those buyers will have to wait a little while longer for the opportunity to purchase the boats.

Fifteen of the boats remain impounded at Morgan's Bluff, Andros, and another one - that would have served as a processing ship - is in Grand Bahama, nearly four months after Fisheries Minister V. Alfred Gray told parliamentarians that the boats will be removed from The Bahamas "forthwith".

A government source conceded this week that Minister Gray was speaking without full knowledge of the law when he said the boats will be removed forthwith.

The Department of Fisheries revoked the registration certificates that were held by Netsiwill Holdings Limited after determining that the boats were not 100 percent Bahamian owned. Netsiwill principal, Earlin Williams, has since said that the Korean investors turned ownership of the boats over to him for $1.

He maintains that the revocation action should be reversed now that he has solved the issue of the "Bahamianization" requirement.

The boats remain in the possession of The Bahamas Customs Department, which said in a release last December that, "The vessels may not be moved or interfered with in any way without the express permission of the Department.  All 16 vessels are expected to leave Bahamian waters in due course of law after the completion of logistical arrangements for their removal from the jurisdiction of The Bahamas."

But after determining that Mr. Williams and his company had broken no law as it relates to Customs requirements, the department advised them to pay the $650,000 owed in duties.  The company paid $25,000 in stamp tax when the boats came in in October.

They were advised to pay duties after the revocation of the registration certificates, which meant that the items were no longer classified as duty-free.

Mr. Williams said on a Radio Love 97 programme in January that in the worst-case scenario, he would find the more than $600,000 to pay the customs duties for the boats.  But he did not return calls to the Journal on Tuesday and Wednesday to answer whether he had come up with the money.

The Journal has now learnt that government authorities do not want Customs to accept the payment if it is offered by Mr. Williams.

The Customs Management Act gives Customs officials the authority to put up for sale any item for which duties have not been paid after a given period of time.

Months after waiting for payment, Customs authorities appear poised to auction the vessels.

Minister Gray has explained that the registration certificates were revoked because the specifics regarding the Korean ownership of the boats were unknown to the government at the time the applications were submitted.

But Mr. Williams has said, "The Government of The Bahamas acted prematurely and acted without all the facts."

A $2.5 million mortgage had been attached to the vessels.

State Minister for Finance James Smith said Tuesday that the matter was now before the Office of the Attorney General and directed the Journal to Director of Legal Affairs Rhonda Bain.

But she was unavailable for comment on Wednesday.