But before we get to that - and the response from the leader of the opposition, Francis Fonseca - we take a break from politics to talk about oil. Last night we headlined, but never ran a story about, Treaty Energy finding Oil in Southern Belize. It was an omission and one for which we apologize, but we held off on the story because we got some late information which suggested the press release from Treaty Energy was bogus. Rather than mislead our viewers, we decided to hold off on the story - until more credible information was forthcoming.
And tonight, it is - and just as we thought, it confirms the release is bogus.
The Ministry of Natural Resources today confirmed that "THE INFORMATION BEING CIRCULATED TO THE MEDIA HOUSES BY TREATY ENERGY IS FALSE AND MISLEADING."
It is a stunning piece of fiction and one perpetrated on the entire society - which duly believed reports aired on other media.
Today Andre Cho - the Director of Geology - told us he visited Treaty Energy yesterday - and there was no oil at all:..
Andre Cho, Director of Geology and Petroleum
"They indicated, as you said in their press release, that it was commercial, and I believe they said that they think they can recover 6 million barrels."
"The government's official position is that that is not true. We inspected the well on Monday 30th of January. Treaty drilled into this limestone on Friday, and they immediately put out a press release that it is commercial. Common sense tells you that something is wrong there. They had informed us and we went down and inspected the well. we looked at the rock cuttings that they say have oil. There is no oil, no live oil, in the rock cuttings. Live oil is liquid oil, you would see that in the rock cuttings, and you would see that while you are analyzing the rock cuttings for oil."
"We can say for sure that they did not make a discovery. It's just an irresponsible act on behalf of Treaty Energy to have declared a discovery."
Jules Vasquez
"Is there any potential that might be in this particular well?"
Andre Cho
"From what we see it doesn't have any commercial potential."
Jules Vasquez
"It falsely raises the expectations of an entire nation."
Andre Cho
"Exactly, I don't know what their motive is but that's what it has done. As you know it caused a lot of excitement and a lot on inquiries. We have a meeting scheduled with them. We are having quarterly operations meetings with all our petroleum contractors, and, coincidentally, they are scheduled for tomorrow, so it will be a matter on the agenda to discuss, and they will need to be chastised."
Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
"You have to start to wonder if these people did this so that they can talk up their share price, because it might be a local subsidiary of a foreign company with the same name. You have to wonder if it's a way to try to attract more financing."
A release from the ministry says that ALL CONFIRMATION ON OIL DISCOVERIES WILL BE DECLARED BY THE GOVERNMENT OF BELIZE AFTER PROPER TESTING AND APPRAISAL. THE GOVERNMENT DID NOT ENDORSE THE DECLARATION BY TREATY ENERGY AND THEREFORE ITS PRESS RELEASE WAS UNAUTHORIZED.
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