A listing of the existing petroleum contracts reveals that 7 of the 17 contracts – including the concession for Princess Petroleum Ltd. granting access to 200,000 acres onshore and 1.8 million acres offshore Belize – were all sealed on the same day, October 12, 2007, under the Said Musa administration of the now Opposition People’s United Party (PUP).
However, a perusal of the map of the concession areas across the country of Belize makes it clear that the current administration of Prime Minister Dean Barrow also issued a sizeable block to OPIC, a foreign investment arm of the state-owned company of Taiwan, Chinese Petroleum Corporation. Taiwan has over the years been the leading bilateral lender of the Government of Belize.
The former administration issued the bulk of the acreage for the existing offshore concessions to Princess Petroleum, a company formed through Mr. Barrow’s law partner, attorney Rodwell Williams, SC.
The official list of concessions, which we reproduce at the end of this article, shows that apart from the Princess Petroleum and OPIC concessions, the Barrow administration gave two new petroleum concessions to companies affiliated with banana industry magnate, Zaid Flores, of Big Creek, Independence, Stann Creek. The contracts for OPIC, the Taiwanese company, cover offshore Belize City; whereas that for Flores’s BCH International Inc. covers the adjacent waters to the northwest and southwest.
A month before demitting office, the Musa administration granted a contract to a company whose point man, Geoffroy Martin, is said to be located in next-door Guatemala.
Of interest is that a series of articles appearing in the Guatemalan press challenge Belize’s decision to grant petroleum concessions inside what they claim is disputed territory. The latest of these, published in Prensa Libre, Guatemala’s leading newspaper, on Monday, May 10, 2010, quotes ex-canciller, Gabriel Orellana, prodding Guatemala to seriously ponder the effect its silence will have in the future, particularly in the event that the territorial dispute makes it to the International Court of Justice.
The paper lists over 10 petroleum contracts, but notably omits the recent concession given to Perenco of Guatemala. It cites a bilateral agreement between Belize and Guatemala dating back to 2005, which was supposedly to prevent the parties from creating new situations that would provoke tensions in the area.
Belize’s Ambassador to Guatemala, Alfredo Martinez, has gone on record to say that notwithstanding Guatemala’s claim over Belize, Belize has not surrendered its exercise of sovereignty and it is entitled to proceed with entering such contracts over all its territory. Ambassador Martinez reiterated those assertions today.
Andre Cho, the Director of Geology and Petroleum, has previously indicated to us that as the Government of Belize policy now stands, every square inch of Belize can be parceled out in petroleum concessions, “…up to your backyard,” since no part of Belize is off-limits. The decision would be Cabinet’s or policy makers in government to reserve certain areas, he had explained.
The majority of the companies with financial interest in these concessions are not Belizean companies, but companies whose addresses place them in the USA, some in Grand Cayman and the British Virgin Islands.
According to Rodwell Williams, SC, the principal investor in Princess Petroleum, an affiliate of the Princess Hotel and Casino, has a Belizean passport. Official information provided to Amandala lists Sudi Ozkan of Newtown Barracks, Belize City, as president of the petroleum company, which has contracted Treaty Energy of the USA as a 50-50 joint venture partner, expanding the scope of US interest in Belize’s oil potential.
Oceana country rep in Belize, Audrey Matura-Shepherd, revealed on KREM TV’s Adele Ramos Show on Tuesday night that the last annual return filed for Princess Petroleum, a company formed in August 2006, listed Rodwell Williams, Prime Minister Barrow’s law partner, as a director, with the main shareholder in the company registered in the British Virgin Islands.
Williams is also listed as the local contact for another company with an offshore concession, Providence Energy Limited.
When Amandala spoke with Williams today, Thursday, however, he told us he forms hundreds of these companies and his firm may have formed the companies in question, but, as he puts it, “It’s simply a vanilla exercise.”
Asked if he has any of his “millions” invested in the offshore enterprises, Williams responded: “I wouldn’t put it there; I could assure you.”
He also went on record to say, categorically, that the Prime Minister is not involved with any of the companies. Williams, who told us that he had been the attorney for Princess for several years, said also that it was under the administration of the People’s United Party that Princess got the concession. “This Prime Minister has nothing to do with it.”
What is clear is that neither political administration had formulated a policy to demarcate any part of Belize as off-limits to offshore drilling – in fact, every square inch of Belize, as a Government official recently explained, can be parceled out for exploration.
Even in the face of recent calls from activist groups appealing to the current administration to ban offshore drilling to protect the reef and coastal ecosystem and secure the livelihoods of those Belizeans who vastly depend on tourism and fisheries, the Barrow administration has maintained the stance that the concessions should stand – though PM Barrow pledges surveillance to protect Belize from environmental harm.
While the Opposition People’s United Party has not issued a formal position statement in light of recent calls for a ban on offshore drilling, Opposition Leader Johnny Briceño said that considering the recent oil rig catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico, it is time for the Government to pause and take stock.
He also went on record to say that while he had approved previous concessions, including the one for Belize Natural Energy, it was not he who had granted those issued in 2007: it was his successor, Florencio Marin, Sr., who held that portfolio before retiring from political office. In 2007, Mr. Marin was the PUP’s Corozal Southeast area representative. [Marin was later succeeded by UDP Deputy Prime Minister Gaspar Vega.]
Vega had indicated to our newspaper last week when we spoke with him on the issue that he would speak with his technical staff on formulating a Cabinet paper on the matter.
List of petroleum concessions:
1. March 18, 2009 – BCH International, Inc., Zaid Flores, Banana Enterprises Ltd., Big Creek
2. March 18, 2009 – ZMT International, Inc., Zaid Flores, Banana Enterprises Ltd., Port of Big Creek
3. January 14, 2009 – OPIC Resource Corporation, S. K. Liu, Area Manager, Juin-Wei Ku, Exploration Manager, Taipei City – Taiwan
4. January 29, 2008 – Perenco Belize Ltd., Geoffroy Martin, General Manager, Guatemala
5. January 22, 2008 – US Capital Energy Belize Ltd., Brian E. Richter, President, Colorado, USA
6. October 12, 2007 – BelGeo Ltd., Wendell R. Halley, Managing Director, of TX, USA
7. October 12, 2007 – Blue Creek Exploration Ltd., Alister King, 4638 Coney Drive, BZ City
8. October 12, 2007 – Miles Tropical Energy Ltd., Oren Miles, President, Olney, Illinois
9. October 12, 2007- PetroBelize Company Ltd., Su In Oh, President, Belmopan City
10. October 12, 2007 – Princess Petroleum Ltd., Sudi Ozkan, President, Newtown Barracks, BZ City
11. October 12, 2007 – Providence Energy Belize Ltd., Todd Mortenson, TX, USA
12. October 12, 2007 – SOL Oil Belize Ltd., Carlos Arango, Marina Towers, Suite 302, Newtown Barracks
13. January 12, 2007 – Spartan Petroleum Corporation, Larry Jones, President, Texas, USA
14. May 25, 2004 – Island Oil Belize Ltd. – Steve Reilly, President, San Francisco, CA
15. November 4, 2003 – West Bay Exploration Belize Ltd., Robert E. Tucker, Jr., President, MI, USA
16. January 2, 2003 – Belize Natural Energy Ltd., Gilbert Canton, President & CEO
17. October 23, 2000 – RSM Production Corporation, Jack Grynberg, President, Colorado, USA