Attorney General Carl Bethel said yesterday that methane deposits beneath the seafloor could be a valuable natural resource to The Bahamas if environmentalists “would give us the opportunity”.
“One thing that was drawn to my attention recently is that The Bahamas has been scientifically determined to be one of the areas where there are methane deposits. They are so deep down in the water that the methane is frozen,” Bethel said in the Senate yesterday.
“…The difficulty is, I’m not sure if the technology is there right now because as you raise it up, the temperature of the water rises and so there has to be a way to capture it.
“Basically, underneath the surface of the ocean in certain areas they have determined that there are large blocks of methane that has, because of the pressure and the cold, turned into ice.
“And as soon as the technology comes, there is the potential…that is a resource that The Bahamas has access to if the environmental community would give us the opportunity.”
He made the comments as senators passed the Biological Resources and Traditional Knowledge Bill, 2021, which paves the way for The Bahamas to gain financially through benefit-sharing agreements with large, international companies that have made discoveries in cosmetics and pharmaceuticals from marine life in Bahamian waters.
Bethel’s comments come weeks after Bahamas Petroleum Company announced that its first exploratory well in Bahamian waters did not produce evidence of oil in commercial quantities.
The news came amid months of controversy surrounding the project, which was vehemently opposed by environmentalist groups and many members of the public.
The post Bahamas has opportunity to benefit from large methane deposits, AG says appeared first on The Nassau Guardian.
source https://thenassauguardian.com/bahamas-has-opportunity-to-benefit-from-large-methane-deposits-ag-says/
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