Just a few weeks ago it was possible for Trinidad’s Prime Minister, Dr Keith Rowley, to indicate in a major speech, that the Caribbean as whole had a potentially very bright future as a major western hemisphere oil and gas supplier. He had good reason for saying so.
In Guyana both hydrocarbons had been found in significant commercially recoverable quantities, and in Suriname and Jamaica the prospects looked good. Elsewhere, countries from Barbados to The Bahamas, Grenada and the Dominican Republic were taking their first steps towards assessing what might lie beneath their waters, and Dr Rowley believed Trinidad could play a central role in the future development of the sector as a whole.
What made this optimism possible was the willingness of the oil majors and those who finance the costly process of exploration and recovery, to take the risk on deep water unconventional plays of the kind that exist in the Caribbean.