According to a recent article in LA Prensa, The government of Panama has hired a company out of Venezuela to search for oil and a contract has been given for a bit over 3/4 of a million dollars. Of course the environmentalists don't like it. Lets hope they find some and that that Venezuela has little more to do with this project than finding the black gold.
Machine translated from La Presna
ARCIA OHIGGINIS JARAMILLO
oarcia@prensa.com
Directly, the Cabinet approved it to the Secretary of State Energy hiring a company that will explore the existence of oil fields in Panama for a total of $ 765 476 000.
The company was designated OTS, an organization of workers and former employees of Petroleos de Venezuela SA, a specialist in oil data collection. At the moment, the Government is in the process of hiring firms to OTS.
Berta Burgos, head of Public Relations of the Ministry of Energy, confirmed that handles the organization of a database on the location of hydrocarbons in the country, then explore and exploit these places.
According to Burgos, the Corporación Andina de Fomento (CAF) and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) will provide $ 420 381 000, while the remaining 95 000 $ 345 will be provided by the Department of Energy.
THE ENVIRONMENTAL DEBATE
The reports of the Secretariat realize that the scans will have the endorsement of the National Environmental Authority and the IDB.
However, environmentalists are wary that activity, then claim to be held in areas near large concentrations of forest.
The executive director of the National Association for Conservation of Nature (Ancona), Alida Spadafora, believes that "the exploration and possible exploitation of Darien and other areas involve many dangers for Panama. We've never done such work. "
Coincides with the environmental Spadafora Raisa Banfield, who holds that "this investment is a step backwards and sends a bad message, then we should invest in clean technologies such as solar, wind and waves." According to Banfield, "the oil industry is one of the most destructive to the environment, demonstrating that the State does not have a vision of development with conservation."
The issue of oil exploration became important when in April, when inaugurating the Annual Conference of Business Executives, President Ricardo Martinelli pointed to the existence of oil in Darien.
