I read an article in the Jamaica Gleaner yesterday about plans for a Canadian company to start drilling for oil by 2013.Tried to post the link to this site but was unsuccessful.The article was very sketchy on detail and nothing said about the potential environmental impact.

Beth, all you need to do is copy and paste the link into the box here. It will automatically be made a link as long at the http part is at the beginning of it.

-TBNet

Here it is:

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20120601/news/news9.html

Walton Bank is located 39 miles south/south west of Treasure beach, and is a prime fishing spot where several Parotee Whitehouse fishermen have their fish pots. I am not sure about Walton Basin, But am assuming this is where they are relating too. I have to wonder if the proper safegaurds would be in place in such a location, they were not in place in the gulf with BP at the helm and U.S. Inspectors. Troublesome to say the least.

and than we move or not the platforms during hurricane Season,and spill the oil nicely from Here to Negril....

Ah, bring on the giant corps, pillage and r&%$ the already done-to little Jamaica.

The fishing industry is more or less finished and there are no jobs around for anyone. I say bring it on and lets drill.

This has been talked about for many years but it looks like the time is coming. The article says the licence is dependent on environmental approval but in JA that is all for sale. If someone is looking for an environmental program to be involved in - this could be it. It will certainly change the complexion of the place forever.
http://www.finderexp.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Finder-Flow-Walton-Basin-EAG E-June-2010-final_Compress.pdf

HARD WORK,USING COMMON SENSE,IS NOT a Crime.When GREED enter(s)IN,destruction is CLOSE by. (Beware)

This is the company responsible.
Sagres Energy Inc.
Profile
Mailing Address: 1100, 505 - 3rd Street SW
Calgary, AB
T2P 3E6
Head Office Address: 1100, 505 - 3rd Street SW
Calgary, AB
T2P 3E6
Contact Name: Gary Wine Principal Regulator: Alberta
Business e-mail address: gwine@forbesenergygroup.com Short Form Prospectus Issuer: Yes
Telephone Number: 403 441-1129 Reporting Jurisdictions: British Columbia, Alberta
Fax Number: 403 263-3041 Stock Exchange: TSX Venture
Date of Formation: Jun 28 1994 Stock Symbol: SGI
Jurisdiction Where Formed: Alberta Auditor: KPMG LLP
Industry Classification: oil and gas - oil and gas producers General Partner: N/A
CUSIP Number: 787002 Transfer Agent: Valiant Trust Company
Financial Year-End: Dec 31 Size of Issuer (Assets): $5,000,001 to $25,000,000

Thanks Maro.

http://www.sagresenergy.com/announcements/sagres-receives-extension-on-jamaica-l icenses

Go to the Sagres site and put 'jamaica' in the search box.

Maybe these people can extract oil with 100% safety, maybe they cannot!?

Thing is, like Mr Wine, I'm tied to fossil fuels. He has more invested. Every time I either drive or take transport, oil is used. Whenever I consume, the food is tied to oil via transport, chemicals etc. Oil has allowed the Industrial Revolution to go beyond burning wood or coal to make steam to the internal combustion engine and the substances that are extracted and synthesised from oil. We are the beneficiaries of this in almost every facet of our lives.

Further, our loans outstanding may be payed off feeing us from that yoke.

Yes, I think of the BP spill and the possibility that hydrocarbon emissions are affecting us in many negative ways. I hope that if it happens, we get a good deal and the environmental effects are properly monitored.

Meantime, who is ready for the Post Fossil Fuel Dependency age?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6tV11acSRk

the drilling will be on the Pedro-banks on the shallow waters of Banners Reef where the Pedro banks is widest and current is lightest I spoke with the Geologist in charge at UWI

that is 90 /100 miles south/south west Treasurebeach

Many years ago, in the lte 60's or early 70's we had folks exploring off the Great Bay coast. They encamped in front of where Viking's house is now. (a departed resident of the district got the nick name "yellow box" at the time). It was rumoured then that they found oil off the Pedro Banks but kept it in hush hush reserve for future times. I guess the future is now here.

with so many fishermen in and around treasure beach that there only income is from the sea. what is going to happing to them and their family.

A wise PR move would be for those involved to explain what is happening clearly and simply.

Have they found oil? I don't get that from what is out there but this thread seems to imply that there is oil.

Drilling oil has the potential to be beneficial to the country and it’s people, however there are always 2-sides to a coin, and the possibility of other issues may become insignificant especially when there is $$$ involved.
Let's not loose sight of what is important and ensure the people responsible for this initiative are held to the highest level of creditability, and accountability to ensure our people and the environment are protected, remember BP.. I think that speaks for itself….

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2010/04/29/louisiana-oil-rig-spill.html

This is great news that,our island has got more natural assets, being discovered.well,fellow jamaicans,lets look at how the discovery of bauxite helped the poor people of "pedro" treasurebeach,well in my opinion it has not helped one iota,instead there was an "exodus on mass to america,canada,england"to get away from starvation and poverty, never able to return home in three generation, to contribute to improving their community standard of living, or way of life.All the people of the area,especially the fishermen and their families,have suffered great hardship in one form or another for many years.I would like to propose that all of us join togeather and lobby government, through our M.P.and the media,that a contract be dawn up to give the fishermen of pedro and their families a percentage of the income from these assets.I know the fihsermen from great bay, calabash bay, billys bay,have lived on,and fish the pedro banks for hundreds of yrears and should have some rigts to its gains.

An archaological survey would be done first if we are not to loose some of our underwater history and treasure where any drilling is done.

http://www.redorbit.com/news/general/58814/sunken_treasure_sought_off_jamaican_c oast/

Estimated over 300 wrecks.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedro_Bank

To Steve, I wonder which Treasure Beach you are talking about ? Exodus,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,to get away from starvation and poverty. Not the TB I know. And I must inform you that quite a lot of people benefitted from the bauxite industery, myself included. Jobs at Alpart and Revere Plus the expatriats filling up the beaches, hotels on weekends. Please withdraw that starvation story. It's not true.

recently viewed a documentry named "crude" its about the exploits and perils of big oil and the people of ecurador.The people of jamaica need to make sure accountability and corruption dont outway the safety and impact of its people?

CRUDE is a documentary not to be missed. The people of the south coast could perhaps purchase a copy and show it to as many people they gather together to watch it.

And let's not forget what happened in the Gulf of Mexico, and the earlier horrific Valdez oil spill in Alaska.

To bowl,you ask me to withdraw my statement saying there was starvation in pedro,because you did not believe this to be so, well my country man.I cannot do so until you have proven to me that my statement is untrue, it might not have been knowledge to you,but it was to me,"He who feels it knows it" you also seems surprised by my statement claiming exodous abroad by pedro people,i am amazed you are exclaimed,as a man of the community you should be a party to this kind information well i can tell you thousands of citizens have left the area and gone abroad.To check these statements,the jamaica high comission will confirm .Treasurebeach,the pedro that i remembered is the one where i grew up,and have knowledge of,i can share with you some of those knowledge.I went to sandy bank primary sohool,where the majority of the pupils got free food and drink,like milk powder mix with syrup,and bulga oats,as porridge,this was part of the government drive to stem starvation,sometimes the more favoured children,would get free flour,and powdermilk from the school,to take home as hand out,"as in poverty" please feel free to check this with the school,as they might have kept this as a factual historical record.I can also state as a fact.The fathers of the majority of families, were fishermen,and the mothers were housewives, who did not have a finincial income. The men in some of the families would go out to fish, and sometimes caught nothing,to sell,or to take home for eating, needless to say everyone went to bed with a hungry belly,Yes bowl,i can say this as a fact,because that was the way it was in mine,and many more family. However I do agree with you though,that a few of the more fortunate people, from the calabash bay area,got work with the bauxite company.

How will Jamaica benefit? The "geography" and technology is owned by Canadians. As for the fishermen in this area... hmmm

Drill baby drill!!

If we keep looking back at yesterday, tomorrow will be gone when we get there. I think a lot of us instinctively take one side or the other with nary a thought about the pros and cons. Of course there are environmental hazards, but should we throw the baby out with the bath water?

Ask the people of Trinidad, or Venezuela, or Saudi Arabia, or Iran, or the good old USA if they never should have drilled for oil in their country. Until Jamaica successfully develops alternative fuel, the country has no choice but to use fossil fuel. Given that fact, are we better importing or producing fuel? I say the latter.

This drilling and exploration been going for years and nothing come of it but if it does happen there would be so much corruption and buyout and sellout nothing will stop it ,will it be of any benefit to Treasure Beach and the country,most oil RICH country,majority of the people do not reap the benefit,selective few does,(i am just wondering if the suddenly disappearance of fish on the fishing shoals and banks have anything to do with the exploration for oil) let your voices be heard.

Jamaica> VOTERS Should Have ALL say,in Oil Drilling.It IS to BENEFIT the Jamaican PEOPLE.NO POLITICIANS,PLEASE! {edited by TBNet}
IF the People ALLOWED IT,to occured,ALL MONEY GOES INTO a SPECIAL ACCOUNT,to FEED THE PEOPLE-WHO
IS HUNGRY-(Daily>)BUY CLOTHES for THEIR BODIES.> FEED ALL School CHILDREN.Give THEM Live-Stocks to
raise.
(GIVE JAMAICA(S)PEOPLE,HOPE!!!NOT DOPE:
(IS there ANY Jamaicans who AGREE,or dis-AGREE::
CHANGES can COME,if the People WANTS IT. IT IS UP
to them... ONE HEART,ONE MIND,ONE LAND.

Likklebob, you said "The people of jamaica need to make sure accountability and corruption dont outweigh the safety and impact of its people". Really? SInce when has this philosophy been engaged on Jamaica? Or is this something new?

I checked out the website of the company and read the press release from February. If you read down all the way to the bottom is cautions that this is what they call "forward-thinking" information.....which means they have plans to do this...but nothing concrete as of yet. They do also have a Jamaican Office 31 Hope Road, Kingston 10, Jamaica.

I will definitely monitor this very closely from Alberta and let you know what I dig up!!

MY fellow Jamaican people, please be sympathetic to our countrys causes,get to know the facts and stick to them.Our country has finincial constraint, "a noose around its neck" put there by borrowing money from the I.M.F,and the devaluation of its currency.Our country needs all the finincial help that it can get,from any legitemate sources,even more so,from its own natural resources,please keep this in mind as priority, before you start objecting to any of the ways, by wich our country can finance its commitments at home or abroad.I wrote and suggested that the wealth to be gained from the pedro banks could benefit the fishermen of pedro and their families.Using elected representation,to lobby M.P and the media for them to get,some kind of written agreement to finincial reward,it would be good to se as many people writing on this website to support this cause.I am looking forward to reading your comments,or suggestions.

Jamaica is a rich place, but money will only get into the hands of the selected few. It will not benefit Jamaica on a whole---only some people. I remember growing up in Jamaica, I could count the amount of motor vehicles on my 10 fingers and 10 toes. now, Jamaica is follded with motor vehicle, money is fowing from these vehicles registration and look at the roads. The drivers should be asking where the lic. money is going. We would expect teh govt. to work on the roads wit the flow of money. The road from Santa Cruz to Treasure Beach needs a hugh face lift.

I’ve been following this thread off and on. Being in the industry (oil and gas); IMHO, this press release by Sagres was intended to generate the interest of investors for the project in Jamaica. They have been trying to secure investors for this project for about 6 years (if the initial term of the license was 5 years and they got an extension). Their previous press release regarding the disposition of their Guyana Assets to concentrate on Jamaica and Columbia Assets smells a little more like they weren’t able to meet the terms of their Farmout Agreement and now have to quit claim and pay a non-drilling penalty back to the Farmor (Canacol). As their stock currently sits around $0.03/share, I don’t think anyone should be getting too excited or concerned about them drilling off the coast of Jamaica.

Do U trust your government. Here in Canada oil is spilling in Alberta and in the new budget bigger energy deals will be fast tracked and over sight will probably be just as fast or blind. Lets face it most don't care until it is affecting them {edited by TBNet} Can't eat oil and can't eat dollar bills.

We have been 'eating' oil for a few generations Nigel. Transport, refrigeration, processing, modern farming, cooking etc. We have also been eating up our access to money not created by our sweat, cheap dollars!? We now have a very expensive collective debt over our heads.

Those who serve us must keep us happy and our creditors satisfied. In Ja and Ca. I can only guess that the majority in the political game are so sheltered by the man made environment and economy that they see any attention to design change as not profitable and not contributing to earning money on the vast scale now needed to feed the strangeness that money has devolved to.

Or; maybe not. Would love to hear from any in the policy making arena who are ready to expand policy making to wed economy with ecology. And get their hands soiled!

The again, there would have to be a commitee blessed by those that run things to look at Sustainable Development aka Economy/Ecology. The minutes of the commitee would have to be submitted to an examination. The examiners would have to bring in advisers from abroad. No problem, money has been alocated and has to be used before a certain time.

The imported advisor, a buddy of who run other things over there, would submit a report. Said report would rest in one of the vast corridor of shelves bearing other resting reports.

Livity can't wait.

It freaks me out that Treasure Beach and the whole south coast may end up with an oil spill that will essentially kill tourism, fishing, agriculture and life as we know it. What makes people think the Jamaican government will control things better than the Japanese government did with their nuclear reactors or America did with the BP oil spill. Even if things are safe I find it ludicrous that people think one cent of any money obtained from drilling will provide any assistance for the area. Please do not use blind faith when you think this is a good idea. Use the brain God gave you instead.

I fully agree with Freaked Out.

Here is a link to yet another hideous thing America is now allowing. It is amazing to see what companies promise--and then do not do--to earn money.

www.nationofchange.org/new-study-fluids-marcellus-shale-likely-seeping-pa-drinki ng-water-1341924839

I know drilling for oil is not the same as what is known as fracking, but there is still the potential for a disaster that cannot be corrected for decades.

If there is an oil spill the south coast is finished. Finished.

Stop using the products of the oil industry. Otherwise, the oil extractors will have to keep drilling baby drilling to keep up with our consumption. Remember too that big money has big talk.

The only thing I'm thinking of is ATI Weekend which is the first wekneed in AUGUST. Every single hotel in Negril from the most expensive 5 star to the roach motels are completely full of high school and university students as well as tourists and other Jamaicans partying non stop! I think it starts on Independence day which is august 6th and goes till the 8th i think. I know its DEFINITELY that wekneed just not sure if its friday to sunday or thursday to sunday.I don't think there's a special week in June at all.

ATI weekend is related to this in what way?

We are getting a very large amount of spam in our queued messages over the last few days. This spam seems to be somewhat related to the topic mentioned in the Subject line so sometimes it is hard for us to determine if it is spam or a legitimate message. We suspect this was spam.

Is it just coincidence that this particular topic would be beset by spam? Interesting.

Observa, lots of threads here hit by spam. This is the only one that got past us. Sorry for the confusion.

-TBNet

Shell Seeks to Weaken Air Rules for Arctic Drilling

Shell has asked the Environmental Protection Agency to loosen air pollution requirements for its Discoverer drill rig, which is planning to begin exploratory drilling operations off the North Slope of Alaska early next month.

In its application to the agency, dated June 28, Shell said the Discoverer cannot meet the requirements for emissions of nitrogen oxide and ammonia of an air permit granted by the E.P.A. in January. The company also asked for a minor air permit modification for its Kulluk drill ship, which is also supposed to begin work in the Arctic in the coming weeks.

An E.P.A. spokeswoman said the agency was reviewing the applications. Curtis Smith, a Shell spokesman, said he did not expect the permit changes to affect the drilling schedule, which has been set back several weeks because of unusually heavy sea ice.

Greenpeace and other groups opposed to oil and gas exploration in the Arctic said that Shell was trying at the 11th hour to change the terms under which it was granted permission to drill.

““This is a classic bait-and-switch,” Greenpeace’s executive director, Phil Radford, said. “Shell promises the E.P.A. — and by extension, the American people — anything that will allow it to get permits to drill the Arctic, and then at the last minute, Shell says it won’t abide by its agreement and wants the E.P.A. to issue watered-down permits with no process whatsoever.

“This is just one more in a litany of broken promises from Shell when it comes to drilling in the Arctic,” he said.

From the New York Times, 13 July 2012

Here's an article about drilling off Cuba.
2nd Cuban Offshore Oil Well Also a Bust
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2012/08/06/world/americas/ap-cb-cuba-oil.html?re f=global-home

Analysis of the findings revealed an "active petroleum system that could extend to other parts of the four blocs contracted by PC Gulf and Gazpromneft, and even beyond their limits," read the statement, which was published by Communist Party newspaper Granma.

"Nevertheless, at that point the rocks are very compact and do not have the capacity to deliver significant quantities of petroleum and gas," it continued, "so it cannot be qualified as a commercial discovery."

Seems like the oil exploration is off unless we have new takers.
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/PCJ-yanks-oil-exploration-licence_12633062

when are the of jamaica will know if we find oil are not we all need update this is 2014 and no update please up us tks

am no expert and acknowledge my own reliance on oil, gas, plastic. But it seems sensible to be cautious and protective of fragile, rare, and essential (for the human race) ecosystems such as the areas in question. Is it likely that oil exploration and retrieval be safe, weather-proof, human error and greed proof? I doubt it. The best predictor of future behavior is past behavior. And the past behaviors of oil companies have been deadly to people, life in the sea and on the shore, as well as the honest businesses which depend on the health and beauty of the sea. The gulf shores on the US are a sad and sick testimony to that!