Government focused on oil

The new Government considers the oil and gas sector to be important and is intent on putting measures in place to assist that sector in reaching its fullest potential.

That’s according to Prime Minister Mia Mottley, who revealed that her government will have to review contracts which were signed under the former government to advance the sector. She was speaking to the media last Friday after being sworn in, as she said that her Government intends to put emphasis on the country’s maritime jurisdiction. That intent was evident in the announcement over the weekend that there will be a Ministry of Maritime Affairs and the Blue Economy, to be headed by parliamentary representative for St. Michael South, Kirk Humphrey.

“Many of you would recall that when I was previously Attorney General we would have done the arbitration with Trinidad and Tobago and secured 99 per cent of what we had been arguing for, for 30 years. So the oil and gas sector is one that we consider to be important. The government previously had said that it had signed contracts with Repsol and BHP Billiton, we have to review those files and see where we go from here,” she stated.
Mottley was referring to the licences that had been awarded between 2015 and 2016 for offshore blocks – two to the Australian-based mining company BHP Billiton and one to the Madrid-based energy company Repsol S.A by the previous administration. The intention was to find petroleum resources in the country’s territorial waters and develop the offshore petroleum sector.

Her comments came as she said that emphasis was also going to be placed on freedom of information and integrity in government. She told reporters that high on their agenda is getting the Integrity Commission Bill passed. She said this is a major priority for her new administration and they intend to lay that Bill in Parliament on the first working of the Parliament.

“The freedom of information will come. I have made the point that we will have regular communication and that is going to affect our approach generally to the public’s right to information and to a different form of citizen engagement especially in a digital world,” she added. (JRT)