With Venezuela listed yesterday as a country of concern as a part of the US’ war on terror, Bahamian officials warn of continued strife in the oil industry and the need for the country to decrease its dependency on oil.
Speaking with The Tribune yesterday, Energy Minister Dr Marcus Bethel said that the Bahamas, as a non-oil producing country has to slowly decrease its dependency on oil, and push for the development of renewable energy sources.
Yesterday television station MSNBC reported that US State Department officials have warned that the US will impose a ban on weapon sales to Venezuela because of what it claims is a lack of support by President Hugo Chavez’s leftist government in counter-terrorism efforts.
It was reported that the Bush administration will also list Venezuela, which is the fifth largest supplier of oil to the United States, as a “country of concern” in the war on terror.
President Chavez has for some time expressed concern that the US is planning to invade his country and warned that if the US attacked, he would stop all oil exports to America.
Although local supplies are made up of 80 per cent Venezuelan oil, Dr Bethel said that international oil conglomerates such as Exxon Mobil, and Royal Dutch/Shell Group will still supply the Bahamas. However, he acknowledged that the loss of Venezuela as an oil supplier on the international market will obviously drive prices skyward.
“Our oil supplies are provided through the major fuel suppliers, the Essos of the world, the Texacos of the world and the Shells of the world, I daresay. The one thing about those companies is that they have multiple sources for getting gasoline. So if one of the world shuts down theoretically then they have back-up contingencies.
“So the only thing that would be of concern in terms of the question of Venezuela shutting down its supplies if it should happen is that it will affect Bahamians because it will take one element out and the price of fuel will go up. But that will go up globally not just in the Bahamas because all these oil companies are interconnected,” he said.
As the Bahamas has no oil supplies Dr Bethel admitted that the country is literally caught at the mercy of larger “oil rich” nations and should therefore be actively looking at alternative energy sources.
“That’s the direction that the Ministry of Energy is moving in. In other words encouraging people to take on alternative renewables, because overall it reduces the country’s dependency on oil and results in a cost savings for the country if we don’t have to import so much oil.
“We are continually trying to apprise the Bahamian public of the need to conserve energy both in their homes in terms of how much they use, cutting off lights not in use, and of course moving gradually towards alternative fuel supplies such as heating water with solar systems.
“These are all things that we are continually working towards. And as they become more commercially available and cost effective for consumers we will see more and more solar elements coming into play,” he said.
By PAUL TURNQUEST Tribune Staff Reporter
