Grenada finds oil? A definite maybe
ST GEORGE’S, Grenada - In leaked footage of a meeting held during the 2018 Commonwealth heads of government meeting (CHOGM) in London last week, Prime Minister Dr Keith Mitchell admitted to there being just a slight possibility of oil and natural gas being discovered in the territorial waters of Grenada, but further drilling and firm confirmation is needed, despite having said at a campaign rally just three days before the 2018 general election that oil had actually been found.
With foreign affairs minister Peter David at his side, who also served in the earlier National Democratic Congress (NDC) government of former Prime Minister Tillman Thomas, but is now a member of parliament in the re-elected New National Party (NNP) government, Mitchell addressed the audience on the current status of the possibility of oil being found in Grenada, while mocking current NDC leader, Nazim Burke, for his failure to make progress in the past on the issue that Mitchell claims to have left in place prior to him losing the government in 2008.
Mitchell pointed to the lengthy court case with American company, RSM Production Corporation, who sued the Grenadian government for $1 billion in damages for refusing to honour a deal left in place by a former iteration of the NNP government Mitchell led prior to 2008 when the NDC came to office.
The issue with RSM was eventually settled at arbitration in 2012 and, after the 2013 general election, when the Mitchell-led NNP won the government with a clean sweep of all seats, another significant commitment was made to a Russian-based oil and gas company, Global Petroleum Group (GPG), which was at the centre of the dispute between the Grenadian government and RSM, with RSM claiming damages were incurred when GPG began negotiations with the 2003-2008 Mitchell-led NNP administration.
Mitchell admitted that the prospect of oil and natural gas in Grenadian waters is based on new 3D seismic tests conducted on one well, with the hope of eventually tapping that well in the distant future, as well as the possibility of tapping other well sites.
He also admitted at the meeting in London that he wanted the best possible time to announce this possibility of oil, particularly three days prior to the general election, because it would have benefitted him greatly even though he had information of the 3D studies some three weeks prior to the announcement.
No documents or other visual presentations of these studies are available online on the Grenadian government websites and GPG’s website is untraceable, and there is no mention of company ownership. The previous work they have done in this area or their level of expertise appears to be advising on oil exploration.
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