BPC details factors it claims make drilling in The Bahamas safe

New technology and comprehensive drilling, spill prevention and clean-up plans give Bahamas Petroleum Company (BPC) the confidence that it can safely drill its test well in the southern Bahamas at the end of this month, according to the company’s Chief Executive Officer Simon Potter.

Potter, who was a guest on “The Revolution” on Guardian Radio yesterday, said while environmental activists who oppose the drilling of the well continue to issue warnings based on the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico from the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, owned by Transocean, many factors that led to that spill ten years ago are absent in BPC’s case.

“There are many things that are different,” said Potter.

“The nature of the pressures that prevail in the Gulf of Mexico are very high, up to four times that in The Bahamas. The rocks are different. The water depth is three to four times that of The Bahamas.

“All of the equipment being mobilized to the site that we have in The Bahamas didn’t 

exist at the time, or couldn’t be deployed at the water depth in the Transocean case.

“Many technical things that could have been mobilized, if they had existed, to save the Transocean situation, are available to us. And of course, over and above that, since then the government has of course regulated – in the way many accidents teach us – they have regulated to help stop those kinds of incidents happening again.”

He added that the Stena IceMAX drillship is one of the most sophisticated drilling rigs on the market and makes use of the latest technology to ensure safe drilling.

According to Potter, should the well get to the production stage, it could provide $5 billion to the Bahamian government over a seven- to ten-year period, while other licensed areas owned by BPC have yet to be tapped.

Potter has contended that this country could use the added revenue given its fiscal position in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, but environmental groups are trying to derail the project altogether, contending the benefits do not outweigh the risks.

The Bahamas National Trust recently publicly voiced its opposition to drilling or oil in The Bahamas, while grassroots coalition “Our Islands, Our Future” is in the process of filing judicial review proceedings to query the oil company’s environmental approvals process.

BPC’s lead environmental scientist Roberta Quant, who was also a guest on the radio show, said the plan that the company has devised over its ten-year lead-up to drilling should mean the project will be safe.

“We have updated technology, there will be a blowout preventer on the sea bed, we’re using a managed pressure drilling system, which will be able to detect down-hole pressure in order for us to make adjustments quickly to ensure that we can contain any kicks quickly,” Quant said.

“We have done oil spill simulations which identify where the oil would go. We know how quickly it would get there. We’ve also identified what exists in the environment that needs to be protected, so it can be protected quickly. We have oil spill equipment that’s going to be strategically located in places.

“So I’d say with the procedures and protocols that we have put in place, the drilling of the exploration well should go forth in a successful manner.”

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source https://thenassauguardian.com/bpc-details-factors-that-make-drilling-in-the-bahamas-safe/