This is an excerpt from an Interview made by Juanita Brock from FINN.
Greywolf note:
I find it interesting that there is serious economic discussion
concerning something that is not yet proven to exist.
21 August
Upon his return to the Falklands, the Chief Executive, Andrew Gurr, invited the media to ask questions about his trip.
HYDROCARBONS
FINN Would you outline the revenues that FIG will earn from hydrocarbons once the exploration stage is finished?
AG I can't answer that, of course, I can't. Once the exploration stage is finished it's anybody's guess at the moment what's going to happen next. I have
always said that we will be in a grey area and it will be a while before anything clear emerges and I think that is what's going to happen. It would be a long
time, even if the oil companies want to exploit oil (it would be a long time before they do) and it would be some years thereafter before the Government, in
fact, earn any money at all out of it because the income from tax, of course, is not actually made until there is a profit above the capital expenditures they
have already incurred. So, it's going to be some time.
FINN Chances are, that even if there are hydrocarbons in commercially viable quantities, extraction might take seven to fifteen years to commence. Given
the fact that the estimated reserves that we have would only supply the world demand for a week, what are the benefits of the exercise?
AG Estimates of reserves are very speculative. The benefits are if we've got reasonable reserves of oil in our waters then I believe, from the Islands' point
of view, the most appropriate outcome would be to have a steady but not spectacular supply of oil on to the world's market. It may only be a dribble,
really, only a very small perportion of the market but that would bring the Islands sufficient income to create the kinds of infrastructure that we know
people want over a period of time. this will take a long time. |
