A California-based specialist online petition-signing business is touting results of 45,000 signatures gathered that, they contend, are motivated by a call to the Bahamas’ government to halt oil exploration activities planned for later this month of December. But data collected, on behalf of BPC by a company specialising in sophisticated data analysis, indicates that the vast majority of these signatures are from persons not in The Bahamas, but rather are overseas parties with no obvious connection to The Bahamas

The Bahamas Petroleum Company (BPC) has been approved by The Government of The Bahamas to drill an exploration well as a condition of its licence contract. BPC is a publicly-owned company, traded internationally and locally in The Bahamas, with its main office in Nassau. The Company has had operations in The Bahamas for more than a decade, but also has oil production interests and exploration licences in Trinidad and Tobago and in South American countries.

BPC has commissioned a specialist data analytics firm to conduct a digital analysis of the “Our Islands Our Future” online petition regarding the upcoming drilling of the potentially transformational exploration well Perseverance #1, located in the far-southern waters of The Bahamas, in an international shipping thoroughfare, close to the Maritime Border with Cuba. Planned after 10 years of exhaustive environmental and technical research, the oil exploration exercise is to ascertain if The Bahamas has the potential to be an oil-rich nation.

As of 30 November 2020, data analysis shows that only 20% of the self-identified signatories were from inside The Bahamas, with the other 80% of such signatories, based outside of The Bahamas. This directly contradicts the “Our Islands, Our Future” suggestion that the online petition represents the views of the Bahamian people. Indeed, rather than accurately reflect the view of Bahamians, it suggests more that “Our Islands, Our Future” is using a common global platform to recruit signatories from overseas so as to skew the results of the petition in support of their agenda in trying to turn the view of Bahamians against this potentially transformational project.

The Bahamian Government on behalf of its people is exercising its legitimate sovereign right to know if a hydrocarbon resource is there for their benefit. BPC holds a valid authorisation from the Government to proceed with the exploration well and should NOT have an independently monitored process distorted by an external pressure campaign funded by already wealthy influencers from outside of the Bahamas.

BPC strongly urges the public to find out more about the facts of the Perseverance #1 exploration well, the potential economic boost its success offers Bahamians and the extensive environmental authorisation process completed with, and approved by, the Government of The Bahamas.

Link to Fact Sheet: https://www.dropbox.com/s/6sa6oun3jo7hij8/100760%20-%20BPC%20-%20Environmental%20Fact%20Sheet.pdf?dl=0 Link to Press Release: https://www.dropbox.com/s/9jd61earh6jeip4/Press%20Release%20vFinal-%20Are%20We%20an%20Oil%20Rich%20Nation%20%281%29.docx?dl=0

Commenting, Simon Potter, CEO of BPC, said:

“The Bahamian Government is exercising its legitimate, sovereign right to find out if The Bahamas has its own hydrocarbon - oil – resource and based upon our extensive interactions with communities throughout the islands over many years, we believe there is a silent multitude of Bahamians who are in favour of knowing the outcome. With the islands facing economic fragility, suffering from both hurricane damage and the impacts of Covid-19, a successful petroleum discovery has the potential to rebase the Bahamian economy, generate billions in revenues for the Government over the life of the project and create new contracts, jobs and numerous other opportunities to the benefit of all Bahamians.”

About
BPC is a Caribbean focused oil production company, with a range of exploration, appraisal, development and production assets and licences, located offshore in the waters of The Bahamas and Uruguay, and onshore in Trinidad and Tobago, and Suriname. BPC is currently on-track for drilling an initial exploration well in The Bahamas, Perseverance #1, in late 2020 / early 2021, with the well targeting recoverable P50 prospective oil resources of 0.77 billion barrels, with an upside of 1.44 billion barrels. In Trinidad and Tobago, BPC has five producing fields, two appraisal / development projects and a prospective exploration portfolio in the South West Peninsula. BPC's exploration licence in Uruguay is highly prospective, with a potential resource of 1 billion barrels of oil equivalent. In Suriname, BPC has an onshore appraisal / development project. BPC is listed on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange and a mutual fund quoted on the BISX. www.bpcplc.com