Caribbean L 12 ife, Jan. 18–24, 2019
Jamaica seeks to buy out
Venezuelan interest in Petrojam
Continued from Page 1
the island’s controversial,
money-losing and problem
plagued national oil
refinery.
Authorities there have
in the past week signaled
that special legislation
legal draughtsmen had
been preparing is almost
ready to be tabled in parliament,
allowing Jamaica
to forcibly buyout the 49
percent shares Venezuelan
has in Petrojam, the
local refinery. Authorities
say this move is necessary
given the economic
situation in Venezuela
and diplomatic hostilities
from the west against the
country’s political and
economic interests.
Jamaica is one of the
regional bloc countries
which surprisingly voted
for the resolution condemning
Maduro’s second
term based on allegations
that recent elections
were flawed, null
and void. The opposition
People’s National Movement
(PNM) and others
in Jamaican society
remain upset not only at
the way Jamaica voted
but are also suggesting
that government is making
moves for a hostile
takeover of Venezuela’s
49 percent stake in
Petrojam. They fear that
both actions could have
negative consequences
for an island which was
treated very kindly by
Venezuela during the
glory days of the 2005
PetroCaribe concession
oil deal Venezuela had
written up for most of
the community.
In all Jamaica, Guyana,
St. Lucia, Haiti and The
Bahamas along with 14
other OAS member states
voted against Venezuela,
while Dominica, St. Vincent,
Suriname voted the
other way. Trinidad, St.
Kitts, Antigua, Barbados
and Belize abstained.
Divorcing the two
issues, Foreign Minister,
Kamina Johnson-Smith
argued that authorities
had becoming increasingly
concerned that talks
with Venezuela about it
selling off its shares in
the refinery had broken
down and were proving
difficult. Additionally,
sanctions imposed by
Washington against Venezuelan
interests were
clearly hampering the
operations of the refinery
so cabinet saw these
developments not only
as a threat to the viability
of the facility but was
also worried about energy
security and related matters.
The refinery also needs
to be upgraded to cater
for waning demand for
heavy fuel oil as the local
power plant is preparing
to shift generation and
transmission emphasis to
natural gas.
“Our feedback has
been overall positive
because the recognition
generally — even those
countries that are disappointed
that it would
have reached to this stage
— recognize the importance
of energy stability
to Jamaica’s growth and
Jamaica as an investment
location. It has been recognized
as an isolated
event, they recognized
the instability and the
risk, and they actually, to
a large extent, have congratulated
the government
on taking decisive
action in ensuring that
energy security is maintained
here in Jamaica.
There is no basis for the
fears and concerns that
are being fomented in the
public domain,” Minister
of Foreign Affairs, Johnson
Smith said.
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