The key achievement of a regional forum on oil disaster preparedness may have been the bringing together of five nations in a productive first meeting. His Excellency Joshua Sears, director-general of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told Guardian Business the forum was "very complete", addressing all of the key aspects of spill prevention and discussing information sharing, best practices and setting up a network to prepare for potential spill events.
But with five different nations sharing oil exploration risks and opportunities, bringing them together, particularly with strained U.S. and Cuba relations, may have been the greatest achievement.
"The important outcome of this forum was that it brought the U.S., Cuba, The Bahamas, Jamaica and Mexico into a regional framework," Sears told Guardian Business in an interview yesterday.
The U.S. imposed an embargo on Cuba in the early 1960s following the Cuban Revolution. It could seriously hamper any U.S.-based participation in an oil spill event off Havana, with ocean and air currents potentially sharing that disaster with Cuba's neighbors.
The political 800-pound gorilla aside, Sears said that all of the participants remarked at how well the forum went. Still, considering the shared risk to environment and industry, Sears said he expected a productive forum.
"Some may consider [the fact that it went so well] surprising in that they didn't know what to expect," Sears said. "But I had the advantage of attending a similar forum in Mexico recently. Deepwater was a wake-up call for us all," Sears said, referring to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill disaster in April 2010.
"With the prospects of [offshore] drilling in Cuba next year, in Jamaica next year, and the Gulf of Mexico still there, we are all vulnerable and the environmental impact of a blowout is something we all need to be able to manage."
Also coming out of the forum was the development of a matrix addressing oil-spill prevention, protocols, preparedness, and communication that was circulated to all member states, according to Sears. They will each be taking those matrices back to their respective agencies to "tweak", making submissions about how to improve it, according to Sears.
Those reports will be returned to a steering group with a representative from each country to develop the matrix, Sears said. Those reports are expected to come back to the steering committee in mid-January, when the details of the next meeting will be decided. The conclusion that there will be another meeting was another important outcome of the forum, according to the diplomat.
The venue for the next meeting has not been decided yet, with Sears saying it would ideally be held in a different nation.
Locally, Bahamas Petroleum Company (BPC) has announced its desire to drill in the Southern Bahamas next year. The government has said a number of policies, standards, contingency plans and revenue considerations must be in place before any drilling is allowed, all "clearly articulated and understood by interested parties and the Bahamian Public", Minister of the Environment Earl Deveaux said in remarks at the official opening ceremony for the forum.
The forum took place between Dec. 7 and 9 at the Paul H. Farquharson Convention Centre.
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