Barbados Government Conjures Up Visions Of Winning The Oil Lottery – Just In Time For The Election!
Oil. Money. Fortune.
We’re all rich, don’t you know? Minister Liz Thompson is talking about setting up a national “Petroleum Heritage and Stabilisation Fund” to deal with the billions of dollars of profits that are sure to be flowing our way from all that oil just off our coast. There’s going to be sooooooo much money that we’ll have to take special pains to take care of this legacy for our children and their children.
We had big news coverage of the survey, and now the Barbados media is pumping oil fever to new heights. The story is that international oil firms are being “forced to bid” for the lucrative rights to get a piece of the action. Minister Thompson flew all the way to Texas to talk with the big boys – with Barbados press coverage of her every word, of course. Texas is synonymous with oil money, and if there is one thing that the Barbados Government knows, it is how to put on a stage show. You can’t create that type of drama meeting in a government board room at the PM’s office folks! So off to Texas went our Liz.
Nobody in the Barbados media asked why it was that the Barbados government had to go on a road trip flogging the supposed billions to be made from Bajan oil rights instead of the world beating down our door here on the island.
The truth is that the survey and efforts to auction off oil exploration areas are nothing in comparison to the FEEL GOOD propaganda campaign being engineered by the Barbados Government. Hardly a day goes by that we don’t hear again in some different way about how good things are going to be when we tap into that big pool of oil money, how many big oil firms are “interested” and this expert or that expert talking about oil. And then we’ll have one more quote from Minister Thompson about the process.
Government Leaks Own Maps To Generate More Hype
Last weekend, the government itself leaked it’s own maps to the media to generate further excitement. The Nation News responded with a big article about the NAMES of the oil exploration areas. The areas have all been given BAJAN names, don’t ya know! This means that they are ours… making for further excitement, hope and dreams. Two chickens in every pot and two BMWs in every garage.
Hey… the government has even put two areas aside with NO BIDDING. Saving them for future generations they say. THAT generates a bit of excitement too, doesn’t it?
Nobody is asking, “Hey… we’ve been in trouble financially for a decade. If there’s so much easy, high quality oil waiting just off the coast, why didn’t we auction off our oil rights six or seven years ago and get some of that big money heading our way sooner?”
What has changed in the last ten years that has improved the quality, quantity, accessibility and desirability of our supposed oil deposits?
The price of crude has changed, that’s for sure. And that makes oil – accessible, good quality oil – all the more desirable. But what has changed that makes our oil of better quality now than it was in the past? Barbados has had oil exploration and deals before – none of which proved profitable enough to keep the companies here.
While all Bajans hope that new exploration will produce an oil bonanza for Barbados, even if the oil companies are successful it will take many years or even a decade before there could be an appreciable impact upon our economy. The current hype by the government is akin to buying a lottery ticket and starting to brag about what you are going to do with the winnings.
The only appreciable short term benefit of the oil hype is for the election… and folks, this is ALL about the election.
Don’t spend your oil money yet, my friends.
Story Links
Barbados Advocate: Steps being taken to set up Petroleum Heritage and Stabilisation Fund
Nation News: Response from oil bidders “good”
Nation News: These Undersea Fields Our Very Own
19 Comments
July 16, 2007 at 7:13 pm
Frankly, it’s worse than buying a lottery ticket and then deciding how to spend the winnings. This is like taking a mortgage to buy a lottery ticket, because millions in foreign exchange are being spent now. If the oil doesn’t turn up, then we are up to our eyes in foreign debt. The oil companies aren’t stupid. when they see the debt problems of the country, they will force through deals that will see us getting far less than the true potential of any oil discovery. I hope they find significant quantities of oil, I really do, because we have bet the farm.
July 16, 2007 at 7:53 pm
such is the rationale of a gambler. You play to win but lose, then you play to win what you initially lost, even as the risk and odds have not change the least bit in your favour. Owen gambled on CWC and can we say he lost? and now he figures we can gamble once more on oil drilling to recoup that which he lost on cricket.
July 16, 2007 at 8:05 pm
Not only— oil.. But did you notice… The Government supposedly deported the man that brought in all the Chinese… I laughed to myself as I thought… Wait— de government did something? elections must be coming…..
July 16, 2007 at 8:17 pm
i think that the reason why it wasn’t done long 7 or 8 years ago is because the territory was being claimed by Trinidad.
Were we really in trouble financially ten years ago? and are we now? What debt problems? those are some of the unsubstantiated statements that your arguement is predicated upon. It makes your conclusions weak.
July 16, 2007 at 8:23 pm
J. Payne
In total agreement re the deportation issue. Must be election fuh true. On reading the back page on today’s Nation I had a good laugh. My guess is that election is in late September..
Just a guess, that’s all. I think that the BLP machinery is a bit too quiet for my liking and seeing that Owen has not been to parliament in a very long time, I take it that he is fed up with the whole thing.
The PM has given Clyde “Turncoat” Mascoll a lot of room in the recent pasr to present various bills to the house.
Come to think of it, did the PM go to parliament since he was floored by Thompson’s bouncer? Just asking. Perhaps Royal Rumble could confirm.
Sylvan Greenidge, way you is? Can’t hear a ting from yuh.
July 16, 2007 at 8:40 pm
the shovel keeps getting bigger but its not oil they are digging for—its election b——t to cover the crimes of “tiefing”. I can just see the new BLP theme song now ” Somewhere Over the Rainbow”.
The worst thing is that the Barbadian citizens will be paying with their own money for this latest BLP fantasy scam and the so called independent media will also be shovelling to earn those government dollars. Its time to cry or a call to action.
July 16, 2007 at 8:54 pm
I laughed when I read this because it is the same thing here….they say they have found oil…they have also made plans for it and we still have yet to see its blackness spew up in the air! Oh to live in the Caribbean…..
July 16, 2007 at 9:04 pm
It does not matter if oil is flowing down Collymore Rock, if corruption is rampant – as it is – if will be of no benefit to the ordinary citizens of Barbados.
By example, look as some countries in Africa, there is oil, diamonds and other natural resources, but where there is corruption it might as well not be there. The people are still disadvantaged, whilst corrupt politicians have large bank accounts in Switzerland, wear expensive clothes, and build palaces amidst squalor.
It is better to have men/women of integrity and honesty in Government with a small budget intelligently used, than millions of oil dollars corruptly squandered.
July 16, 2007 at 9:20 pm
Philosopher Queen
July 16th, 2007 at 8:17 pm
i think that the reason why it wasn’t done long 7 or 8 years ago is because the territory was being claimed by Trinidad.
Were we really in trouble financially ten years ago? and are we now? What debt problems? those are some of the unsubstantiated statements that your arguement is predicated upon. It makes your conclusions weak.
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We have had oil bids before and never was there this fan fair. I think the right and non-partisan answer is, that the current bidding is over stated and over played, in light of the perception of the BLP, the failure that it’s previous trump card (CWC 2007) turnout to be, and the difficulty of winning an upresidented, watershed making forth term government. We would have been in trouble as a result 9/11 much the same as the world wide economic down turn in the early 90’s, the strategy employed this time around that of spending by way of capital projects by this government to maintain jobs and economic activity as we lost revenue from tourism and further impounded by high gas prices was a good move, but at some point it can become a bad move. It has been prolonged inspite of concerns about our debt load. We where told not be concern since the majority of the debt was held locally, meaning that Government was taking funds out of NIS at the sametime it was restructuring NIS to make person wait longer for payouts. Elligibility was moved from 60 to 65. Now if you read the last budget the PM would have agreed that the debt is high and of concern and he also said that Barbados will meets it’s payment whenever they are due. So yes we need the oil seriously to pay for what started out as the right thing to do “Taxpayer funded capital projects” at a time of worldwide economic downturn, but it was turned into a right of way for greedy Barbadian business people to deny Barbadians the jobs to keep them employed and instead replace them with cheap labour, in addition to risking the capital outlay to host CWC.
July 16, 2007 at 11:20 pm
Yardbroom said
It is better to have men/women of integrity and honesty in Government with a small budget intelligently used, than millions of oil dollars corruptly squandered.
Amen Yardbroom. A huge Amen.
July 16, 2007 at 11:49 pm
Think there’s much chance they might find a new “Saudi Arabia” off shore Barbados? They’ll need to find another Saudi Arabia pretty soon if they want to keep the world’s economic merry-go-rounds turning and the lights in the amusement park lit.
July 17, 2007 at 1:22 am
for the forseeable future, crude oil will not return to anything under 60 a bbl,
and if it does, that will be ‘cheap oil!
It’s a different world now
china oil/energy gluttony now added to american oil/energy gluttony-addiction.
2much demand for limited supply.
values and prices go up.
suddenly marginal ’sees’ of hydrocarbon deposits start to look attractive
at global prices of USD70/bbl and up
(you see it going down? really?).
The offshore areas along the barbados ridge shall soon be probed
and found to be either real, or dry holes.
big gamble. we’ll see.
blp is counting their chickens before they hatch
hoping an electorate will take the spoon-bait
- much flash and little substance.
strike it like a barracuda, people!
put dem back in!
based on not1shyte other than flash and bigtalk!
Lines tight! – reel dum in!
wunnuh too foolish…
July 17, 2007 at 10:11 am
Yardbroom and Adrian above have it bang on.
We hope that oil is found so that our debts can be paid, new necessities, such as a state-of-the-art hospital built, increased salaries for teachers, Policemen and nurses.
However, the finding of oil may not be the panacea that we expect. With it will come increeased corruption or shall we say, even more obvious corruption and further separation of rich and poor.
Oil can bring us money to be spent, but will not automatically bring with it the appropriate ethical and moral approach to spend it wisely.
Oil will not solve our daily approach to life, in terms of the weighing of priorities.
Oil will not solve issues of moral measures such as work ethic, corruption, extreme sexual promiscuity leading to HIV, alcoholic consumption by minors etc.
Oil will not solve jealousy and hatred,
Oil will not create love and peace.
Maybe we are looking for a panacea in the wrong place. Certainly the financial benefit will be useful, but for the politicians to put so much emphasis on this indicates their tunnel-vision and lack of appreciation for where we need to go as a Nation.
Peace
July 17, 2007 at 4:00 pm
There is short term benefit to bigging up the oil bids at this time. Can anyone guess for what and for whom?
July 17, 2007 at 4:20 pm
A2
ELECTIONS!! It ’round de korner fuh trute.
July 17, 2007 at 4:46 pm
Wow we let her award a contract to her husband to build a little bath and the two of them con us with their scam and over charge us badly.
Just guess what she will put together with these oil bids Liz where is your bank account in Switzerland, BVI, Channel islands or under your bed when you make it the way you do there is no need to bank it that only gives a paper trail.
July 22, 2007 at 3:02 pm
[...] The recent oil hype is part of the strategy to make us all feel good during the approach to the election and to provide a “believable” external source of funds for the election promises. With all the hype, one would think that the oil money is a sure thing starting to flow next week – instead of a highly speculative venture that at best would not see a significant revenue stream for a decade or more. (See BFP’s Barbados Escalates Oil Lottery Hype In Election Run-up) [...]
July 23, 2007 at 2:48 am
The BLP really have all cow boys and girls, it seems they are looking for more money to fat up themselves because the cookie jar is empty.
July 27, 2007 at 4:16 am
[...] BFP: Barbados Escalates Oil Lottery Hype In Election Run-up [...]