I posted last April about oil bubbling from the ground in the Darian jungles and this weeks La Prensa reports that a company is being hire to do a bit of exploration to determine just how viable gas and oil exploitation may be in Panama. I say LETS GO FOR IT!
La Prensa excerpts; The Department of Energy (ie. I did not know they had one) has hired an exploratory study to confirm the existence of oil and natural gas in Panama and the commercial viability of their holdings.
Frank De Lima, Vice Minister of Economy, at the conclusion of the National Economic Council (Dinner), said the study will cost $ 476,000, of which $ 381,000 will be provided by the Corporacion Andina de Fomento (CAF) through fund non-refundable.
The objective of the analysis, which will run for eight months, to identify possible areas of the country that have deposits of oil and natural gas.
So far, there has been talk of the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of the border between Panama and Colombia as potential locations of reserves. De Lima said Friday that it could also be in the Azuero Peninsula and along the border between Panama and Costa Rica.
"This is the first step in the possible establishment of the oil production business in the country," said the official.
