|
After months of rumours, the government of President Ricardo Martinelli has confirmed the discovery of at least 900m barrels of crude oil reserves in Panamanian territory. While the announcement means Panama looks poised to join Guatemala and Belize as oil-producing countries in Central America, it also potentially sets the right-wing pro-business government on a new collision course with indigenous groups given that some of the reserves are partially located in indigenous territories.
The quality of the oil deposits, which were identified in the Garachiné-Sambú and Bayano-Chucunaque-Atrato basins, both in the Darién province, has yet to be determined. Yet Energy Minister Juan Manuel Urriola said that the discovery would likely translate into US$15bn in royalties and taxes over a 20-year period, based on an average oil price of US$100/barrel. According to a statement by the energy ministry, more than 36 exploratory wells have been drilled over the years and geologists have obtained geophysical information over an area of almost 10,000km2 that confirms the presence of hydrocarbons. In September 2010 the Martinelli government contracted Venezuela’s OTS to identify and map oil reserves, a study which cost US$476,765 -of which US$381,420 came from the Andean Development Corporation (CAF) and the remainder from the local energy ministry.
Aside from the Darién, the study detected oil in the Bocas del Toro region (on the Caribbean side), in the central region of Azuero and in coastal Caribbean areas. Urriola added that a bidding process for the rights for exploration and in order to determine the quality and quantity of the deposits would be launched before the end of 2011, a prospect likely to set off alarm bells among indigenous groups which have so far managed to resist government efforts to exploit other natural resources – namely the mining sector [RC-11-03].
Panama’s electoral authorities (TE) have rejected the 3 July decision by the Movimiento Liberal Republicano Nacionalista (Molirena) to merge with President Ricardo Martinelli’s Cambio Democrático (CD) [RC-11-08] because the vote to do so violated the electoral law. Specifically, the TE pointed out that the party convention had adopted the motion to merge by a roll call rather than by secret ballot, as established by a 2006 electoral tribunal decree. Although the party was given 15 days to call a new convention and rectify the procedural error, the TE’s ruling suggests the merger will not take place.
|
