Belmopan says oil field shares will not go to bank

In news from Belmopan, the Musa administration is maintaining its silence regarding its latest offer to the Belize Bank as negotiations continue over settlement of the Government guaranteed multi-million dollar debt owed by Universal Health Services. In a release issued by the Press Office this afternoon, the Office of the Prime Minister categorically denied that the new talks involve a swap of Government’s ten percent ownership of B.N.E.’s Spanish Lookout oil field in exchange for the thirty-three million dollar U.H.S. liability with Belize Bank. According to the release, while there have been discussions with the petroleum company, the dialogue centres on government’s “willingness to market those shares to Belizeans.” Flak over the alleged swap hit local airwaves this morning, prompting the official response. Government’s previous proposal to the bank involved more than eight thousand acres of land in San Pedro, but that deal failed after the bank demanded additional property.