Above: Barbados (CJ Photo)

By the Caribbean Journal staff

Barbados will soon be awarding offshore oil drilling licences to energy firm BHP Billiton, the government announced in a release Tuesday.

The licences will be for the Carlisle Bay and Bimshire blocks.

Barbados Prime Minister Freundel Stuart said recent debate in the House of Assembly, along with two pieces of offshore petroleum legislation, had paved the way for oil exploration.

“It is expected that these Acts, when proclaimed, will usher in the development of a new era in the utilization of Barbados’ untapped natural resources,” Stuart said Monday. “The government is committed to ensuring that Barbados establishes the appropriate structures necessary to ably manage the establishment of an offshore petroleum sector.”

Stuart said that, based on the projections of experts, there was evidence to support the existence of hydrocarbons in the country’s offshore petroleum acreage.

Several Caribbean countries have begun exploring their offshore resources, notably Guyana and Cuba.

“The government of Barbados has received several unsolicited offers from a number of companies to purchase seismic data as well as to undertake speculative seismic surveys in the area,” Stuart said.

The process will involve developing the right tools to manage health, safety and the environment, as well as an effective management of the government’s take of energy profits, he said.

For more on Barbados’ energy sector, see Caribbean Journal’s interview with Energy Minister Darcy Boyce from earlier this year.