Is it possible to manage offshore drilling and oil production?
andre cho
The petroleum oil spill that killed eleven workers and injured seventeen more in the Gulf of Mexico is still causing havoc despite efforts to bring it under control. The Deepwater Horizon sank after an explosion blasted the rig on April twentieth. The oil rig was owned by BP, formerly British Petroleum, which is the planet’s third largest energy producing company. Four hundred and fifty million dollars have so far been spent on the clean-up and it is not yet finished. Andre Cho, the Inspector of Petroleum in Belize’s Department of Geology and Petroleum, says that the accident never should have occurred and in his opinion it was gross negligence. But if oil is ever found in our waters would the technical staff be able to monitor and regulate the industry to avoid spills?
Andre Cho, Inspector of Petroleum
“I can see why people would get scared, but in this day and age this shouldn’t be happening. Those rigs cost hundreds of millions of dollars and have all the technology that should help them avoid these sorts of things. So this shouldn’t happen any at all and I personally believe it’s human negligence and somebody should be responsible.”
Jose Sanchez
“When you look at our own waters, we have a history of boats, of yachts, of cargo vessels running aground on our reef, accidents happening even BNE has to deal with accidents. How many Andre Cho’s, inspectors of petroleum, do we have to monitor all of these companies assuming they begin to drill and find oil in commercial quantities?”
Andre Cho
“Well right here at the department, we have four Andre Cho’s, four technical staff that supervise these companies and inspect their operations. One is trained in drilling in particular and he does the inspection and monitoring of the drilling operations. Whenever offshore drilling begins, because it’s in offshore, the government has to go further and hire drilling consultants that are available. We have to hire one to inspect the rig once it’s rigged up and ready to drill. He has to inspect the Blowout Preventer to see if it’s functioning and everything. So once those procedures are followed and the government as the regulator makes those inspections and approves those things, these things shouldn’t happen. Yes somebody can slip up on the rig and it would result in human negligence just like in the Gulf, but the government has to stay—it’s their responsibility to stay on top of things and ensure the drilling goes properly because it’s their resources their drilling for and if they find it, they make commercial discoveries, it can produce revenue that can develop the country. So you have to ensure you strike that very delicate balance between exploring for oil, developing it, producing it and maintaining and preserving our natural environment.”
In the meantime, none of the eighteen concessions for oil explorations granted by GOB, have been rejected and the environmental community continues to call for a ban.
There’s no guarantee that accidents will never occur whether it may be human or machanical failures. Da man mek dehn thing mi bredda and nothing build to perfection because there’s no such thing. God forbid that similar incident/accident occur in our waters, then what?. Our Politicians are well known for encouraging investors into our country and welcome them with open arms more when they are bribed by these investors. Mek ah show unu something, “Di Englishman come inna wih country wid wa Cork hat and wa cane, thief wi mahagony and logwood and gawn. Di Chinie man come wid ih Straw hat, Cha-cha-cha, and wa bicycle, open ih business, raise & educate ih pikni dem, send fu di rest ah ih family afta ih get rich and den goh da america or back da China. At the end of the day when all hell break lose, our country is usually left holding the bag. I do understand that if it all works out that our country can use the revenue to help our country’s economy, but let us look at what’s going on currently with revenues from BNE and our country’s past experiences. If my two sense memory serves me right, our Prime Minister is/was reluctant to get involved or to look further into BNE’s transactions, then he refered to the proverbs about di damn Camel. Mr. Cho, mek ah tell you something, I am confident that those employees that got killed or injured from the explosion of “The Deep Horizon” had experience both practical and theoretically probably more than you and the other Andre Cho’s do, my heart and sympathy goes out to their family. Please don’t sit there like a Jacka-s (Donkey) and say that it should’nt have happened. We as human beings cannot have control over everything, trust me. If oil drilling should be done in our country, our government better understand that if something of this magnitude should occur in our country that it will be very costly. Last but not least, GOB better make sure that these investors will be fully responsible financially because, please remember that our government is still over $60Million dollars short. Mr. Cho, maybe you check your Motor Vehicle every day, but please don’t forget, the valve stem for your front tire can suddenly break off and cause a blow-out while you’re driving. You could panick during the blow-out and hit the brakes that can also cause you to flip over, which should not happen according to your theory and understanding. I pray to God it don’t happen to you and please don’t get me wrong, I would never wish that for you or anyone, but again, s… happens. Mr. Cho, In 1972 I lost a family member along with two other friends riding in the same car with the very same scenario, and guess what, “Firestone Tire Company” just like yourself said that the accident should not have happened. So let me remind you again, “S..t do happen”.
hogwash, if things can go very wrong in more developed countries who invest millions in the monitoring of these oil drilling companies, imagine what could go wrong here. You know being here in a much smaller country cheap technology/equipment and poor labor will be used to do these. While payoffs to the so called inspection officers will happen. Wanna see their “RIDES” soon.
aye man, no cum down hard on cho. he’s doing his job, he’s only trying to explain how the shiznit works, if it were anybody else, they would have never shared any information about what is happening. the geology and petroleum dept. is transparent unlike the rest. we may not, i don’t like that they have to parcel out the country. but its the politicians who can change that. cho is a public servant doing his job and letting us know what he has to do. da eh job eh di do. and he di say bout it
Island bwoy you no know what you talking about…you no kno jack……first of all, never underestimate our small nation. secondly not caz we small means investors will use cheap equipment, no one wants an accident, baby. accidents cost money so they will be damn sure to come up with the best. Thirdly, there are bigger fools in foreign countries than here in Belize. its much more effective to manage something small than something large. You imagine how many jobs will be created. Its the GOB that should lay the ground rules and be on top of the game, if they do so i fully support drilling but as we know all GOB are penetrated hard with the dick we call money and greed and for them to be on top of the game is usually not the case and aslong as they behave in such manner i will not support drilling.
thats rite aye man….If they only knew how little control they have over those issue…tru Mr. barrow.
Hey Cho:
Do you or anyone in government in Belize whatch the news? Do you see what is going on in the Gulf of mexico right now as I write this and has been going on for that last few weeks? Ok! I am assuming that you guys do but it sound like you guys are willing to go on a wing and a prayer! Do you see how the responsible parties are behaving and each blaming the other? The is still oil below still floating below the surface of the ocean that is about 10 miles long and 3 miles wide.
We should never sell our country for a few barrels of oil. If they can do what they did to the US Government (right now) what do you think they will do Belize which does not have even laws for oil exploration and desaster management.
This current desaster is the worse ever in the world. So I guess you are saying that you are better trained than the guys here in the US that does the same job because they were unable to avoid this mess.
If this sort of desaster would ever happen in Belize there would be no sum of money that would be able to cover the loss. Think about the fishrey, the reef, tourism etc that would be wiped out!
Belizean girl, have you seen the equipment the companies that are right now extracting oil in Belize or exploring it – use? Go check with the one doing seismic testing in STNP, go check the equipment being used on Menonites’ land. It’s is definitively not the best, it is not even good enough! The foreign oil companies are raping Belize for pocket change, well perhaps for the change they stuffed the pockets of the “honorable” prime minister and his entourage of cronies. Don’t be naive.