Jamaica Oil Search resumes next year

A leading local expert in energy says that efforts to drill for oil and gas off the coast of Jamaica are scheduled to resume in 2011, and that adequate systems are in place to prevent any accidents similar to the one in the Gulf of Mexico in April.

Consultant to the Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica Dr Raymond Wright said 12 of 16 blocks have been licensed for drilling for oil offshore Jamaica. He said environmental impact assessments will be done on each drilling site, which involves collection information on Jamaica’s flora and fauna.

However, he refused to be drawn on whether oil would be found in commercial quantities in Jamaican territory.

“There is oil and gas to be found in Jamaica. There are prospects for such (oil and gas) to be found in deep water, essentially the same water depths as those in the Gulf of Mexico,” he said.

Wright was the guest speaker at the annual general meeting of the Jamaica Institute of Environmental Professionals (JIEP), held at the Environmental Division of the Ministry of Land and Environment in Kingston last Wednesday.

He cited human error for the spill at BP’s Deepwater Horizon well in April, which resulted in 3.9 million barrels of oil gushing out into the ocean. Wright said it was “man-made errors in large measure” resulting in the non-maintenance of a blowout preventer which caused the spill. He noted that BP was “caught off guard” by the accident and “did not know what to do and how to respond”.

A blowout preventer is a large, specialised valve used to seal, control and monitor oil and gas wells.

Source – Jamaica Observer