Representatives of major oil companies who are interested in exploring Barbados’ marine space, but have queries on some aspects of the project, will have an opportunity to receive additional answers.

A clarification session will be held tomorrow, Friday, August 3, at the Hilton Hotel, beginning at 9:30 a.m. Officials of the Ministry of Energy and the Environment will be on hand to shed light on issues relating to the Offshore Licensing Round 2007.

Six weeks ago, this island made available 70,000 sq kms of its offshore acreage for petroleum exploration, dividing the area into 26 blocks. Only 24 of them have been put on the market, and the others are currently being held by the state for future generations.

Barbados held two road shows in Texas and London recently to sensitise the managers of the multi-national companies to the Round. At the end of the presentations, Minister of Energy and the Environment, Elizabeth Thompson, said that some international companies with substantial resources and a good reputation had expressed an interest in looking at the data and becoming involved in the sector.

Ms. Thompson stated that she was informed that “the geological data totally excited the people in the industry” and the shows “created a tremendous amount of attention”.

“All of the data, is not immediately available… But companies have already started purchasing data so we are already earning revenue and foreign exchange from this activity,” she said.

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