Some of the oil giants which supply the region with oil and gas, operate as a cartel and make excessive profits.
Just as bad, they set exceedingly high mark-ups on their energy products and end up taking advantage of those countries.
These charges have come from Leslie Miller, Bahamasﾴ Minister of Energy, who told the Daily Nation in Miami that Caribbean states, with the exception of energy-rich Trinidad and Tobago, were being hard hit through unnecessarily high oil prices.
ﾓWe need to have a policy where there is truly competition,ﾒ Miller said. ﾓThe oil companies in the Caribbean, in my opinion, have a cartel and the countries in the region are susceptible to their whims and fancy. The mark-ups they enjoy in the Caribbean, especially in The Bahamas, are among the highest in the world, not [simply] in the region.ﾒ
He complained that the situation in The Bahamas was particularly bad because it was one of the most lucrative Caribbean markets. And that probably explained, he said, why Shell declined to sell its assets there to SOL, the Barbados oil company, which will take over almost all of Shellﾴs assets, storage facilities, service stations and distribution network in an area that stretched from Belize, Suriname and Guyana to Barbados and the other countries in the region, with the exception of The Bahamas, Martinique and Guadeloupe.
ﾓIf you noticed a few weeks ago, Shell sold all of its assets in the Caribbean with the exception of The Bahamas for $200 million to a company, I believe out of Barbados,ﾒ said Miller. ﾓWhy do you think that was done but not in The Bahamas?
ﾓThatﾴs because The Bahamas is probably more lucrative than all of the other markets combined. The ministers responsible for energy in the Caribbean normal complaints are that energy is too high for us, that we are being taken advantage of by the three majors (oil companies) and there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that that is a fact.ﾒ
The minister said the oil companies would ﾓnever admitﾒ that his charges were true. But the various governments in the region must stand up and let the truth be known, he added.
ﾓWe have an obligation to those people who elected us as the government of the day to work for and on their behalf as much as we can to bring them relief with the high energy costs,ﾒ he said. ﾓAs minister responsible in The Bahamas, I intend to do just that.ﾒ
Tony Best, Barbados Daily Nation News
