(Eleuthera, Bahamas) – The Bahamas Petroleum Company (BPC) visited two locations in The Eleutheras on Monday, June 17th, as part of a series of meetings being held in areas throughout the Bahama Islands where there are prominent fishing communities – with the purpose of introducing the company to those communities – sharing information with them about the oil company’s activities and goals, and to garner feedback about sensitive areas that those communities would label as priority areas for protection, as part of BPC’s oil spill contingency planning.
BPC’s Chief Executive Officer, Simon Potter and Environmental Scientist with BPC, Roberta Quant met with fishermen in Spanish Wells at 1:30 pm on Monday at the Methodist Church Youth Hall and in Rock Sound at the primary school at 7pm on Monday evening.
In Spanish Wells, about a dozen community members turned out to the meeting, which had not been formally publicised, including local coordinator, Clay Sweeting, BAIC Deputy Chairman. After giving a comprehensive presentation on the company and its activities since its formation in 2005, Simon Potter and Roberta Quant went on to talk about their activities in preparation for drilling an exploratory well and the impact on the local fishing industry. Although small in numbers, those in attendance engaged in a robust question and answer session, with questions centred on BPC’s preparedness for an oil spill and resources to deal with one, despite the low probabilities of such an occurrence as stated by BPC.
Simon Potter, Chief Executive Officer with BPC (top right) shares information about the company with the Spanish Wells audience.
In an interview following the meeting, Quant shared that there were a number of factors that would have to be in place before their planned 120 day exploratory drilling began, saying, “Our timing is dependent on when the government puts in the enhanced environmental regulations. We agreed that we would not proceed without having regulations and clear guidelines for what we should be doing and should not be doing, and once those are in place, it will take us a year to plan in order to be prepared.”
She continued, “We’ve also committed to not drilling during hurricane season which is June to December – so all of that will come into play. Once we know the regulations are in place then that one year time clock will start, but if it’s during hurricane season, it will push it further back. Also we are looking for a partner to drill the well with us, so that also will come into play in terms of timing.
Roberta Quant, Environmental Scientist with BPC (standing) presenting information on the activities, operations and upcoming drilling plans of BPC.
BPC representatives, according to Quant, will now head to Abaco on Monday, June 24th, 2013 for two days of meetings, followed by visits to Andros, Long Island, Exuma, Ragged Island, Grand Bahama, New Providence and other family islands during the next several months.
