0

Who wants to be a petro-state?

As of Friday, December 11, 2020

EDITOR, The Tribune.

Petro state: derogatory, “a small oil-rich country in which institutions are weak and wealth and power are concentrated in the hands of a few”. Collins English Dictionary.

A cursory perusal of the internet adds further details:

A petro-state is a nation whose economy is heavily dependent on the extraction and export of oil or natural gas, where political and economic power are held by a small elite, corruption is rife and political institutions are not accountable to the public and leaders tend to be autocratic.

The economy tends to be weak and overly reliant on the oil business, with all its unpredictability and price fluctuations. They also tend to be socially backwards and lack social and political freedoms and where democracy is either non-existent or in decline.

Is this the vision of the future that Bahamas Petroleum Company has in mind for us?

Because if, whether by a single catastrophic accident or gradually through the small leaks and spills which are a normal part of offshore drilling, this company ruins our unrivaled tourism product, we will have nothing to fall back on but oil.

And for anyone who doubts that our society could backslide in this way towards failed state status, there are many examples of once thriving and vibrant democracies that degenerated due to circumstances beyond their control. A number of them are petro-states.

Are we going to be the latest addition to that list?

BPC directors and executives never tire of talking about a sovereign state’s “right” to know if it can exploit fossil fuels. This is misdirection and sleight of hand at its best.

It is not ‘We the Bahamian People’ who are trying to discover anything. It is this foreign company and its foreign shareholders, with a few Bahamian shares in a tiny mutual fund thrown in just for appearances.

What a sovereign state does actually have the right to do, is protect its economy and natural resources from exploitation by outsiders. It has the right to determine its own course for the future and not have its options taken away.

We, the people of The Bahamas, constitute and embody the sovereign state that gained independence in 1973 and it is BPC, a foreign entity, that is threatening our right to self determination.

L LEWIS

Nassau,

December 10, 2020.

Comments

Porcupine 3 years, 4 months ago

Thank you Mr. / Ms. Lewis. The aims of BPC and those associated are quite clear. They care about one thing, and one thing alone. They care about money for themselves and counldn't give a shit about The Bahamas. Just read Banana7 and Columbus Pillow's comments. They do not even live here, yet are pushing this risky venture so that they can make a few bucks. Low lifes.

1

ColumbusPillow 3 years, 4 months ago

FYI, the nearest "petro state" is Trinidad. The government-owned oil company PETROTRIN employs 10,000 Trinidadians and is engaged in the exploration, development and production of hydrocarbons and the processing and marketing of petroleum products. Trinidad has little unemployment, no problem attracting foreign investment. Trinidad children have a future! In Bahamas where I live, all the banks have left, there is no foreign investment, the country owes $9 billion and we have porcupines that wish to shut out foreign investment like BPC. Please do your homework.

1

Proguing 3 years, 4 months ago

Venezuela is not far away and has the largest oil reserves in the world. I suggest you take a trip over there to see what the future looks like for the Venezuelan children

1

Revolutionary 3 years, 4 months ago

"In Bahamas where I live" Bey you een foolin nobody lol.

Name one Bahamian that uses the word hydrocarbons, ya lying potcakes!

0

tribanon 3 years, 4 months ago

Yes, but we also know few if any Bahamians want to risk having to wade or swim in polluted seawater, or look at unsightly beaches laden with the awful smell of contaminants, or eat toxic seafood.

0

Porcupine 3 years, 4 months ago

Encourage FDI in the right sectors. All for investment in sensible companies with new innovative ideas that will help Bahamians. Drilling for oil is not one of them. So, in that respect you are right. I want to shut BPC out. All for compatible industries to our tourism and fisheries products. The tourists will come back. But, it seems you want to shut that option down. Are you really for The Bahamas, or just for yourself? It sure doesn't seem like you care much about what most Bahamians care about and depend upon to live. Just saying..............

0

Bahama7 3 years, 4 months ago

Hello Porky, thanks for the mention old chap.

BPC can solve the Bahamas problems not make them.

0

ColumbusPillow 3 years, 4 months ago

FYI Venezuela is a communist country. The people of Trinidad, a fellow Caribbean country, took it upon themselves to buy up the assets of Shell Trinidad and Texaco to guarantee their future by having a national oil company. That took foresight....which appears to be lacking in the environmental activists of the Bahamas!.

0

Porcupine 3 years, 4 months ago

Interesting that the oil spills a few years ago in Trinidad required the feeding of the local residents 3 meals a day since there was a ban on open flames. preventing the residents from cooking. Sounds like fun to me.

0

Sign in to comment