Business
Bahamas Petroleum Company drilling permit to be renewed
(Reuters) – Bahamas Petroleum Company sought to reassure investors on Monday that its drilling permits would be renewed, after local media reports last week raised fears they might not.
“Bahamas Petroleum Company believes it has significantly exceeded all license commitments and obligations with cumulative expenditure in excess of US$50 million,” the Bahamas-focused oil firm said in a statement on Monday.
Bahamas Petroleum, whose portfolio comprises five exploration licenses in the Bahamas, says on its website that the Bahamas government will renew its licenses for another three years if it commits to drill and spuds a well by April 26, 2013. Its drilling permit expired on Saturday.
“The company is already working to fulfill the increased requirements of this next three-year phase,” it said.
The company’s stock, which lost nearly a third of its value on Friday and saw 163 million shares change hands, rose as much as 23 percent on Monday.
The company expected its permits to be renewed automatically, and the process of obtaining the new permits was ongoing, a person familiar with the situation told Reuters.
Bahamas Petroleum had also not received any official suggestion its permits would not be renewed, the source added.
