Senator: Go for 25%  in oil stakes

OPPOSITION SENATOR KERRIE?Symmonds?said yesterday he would like to see the Government acquire 25 per cent of all offshore oil exploration findings.
During debate in the Upper Chamber on the Offshore Petroleum (Amendment)?Bill, Symmonds said that in the event commercial deposits of oil or gas were found, his Barbados Labour Party (BLP) was of the view that Government should secure a maximum of one-quarter of each block (several thousand kilometres of space) off the coast of Barbados.
He added that it was important that a percentage of what was found was held by the Government so that the Barbados National Oil Company (BNOC) and the National Petroleum Corporation (NPC) could do further developmental work in terms of the energy sector.
“This would mean that the people of the country would have a stake in the oil that is found. In addition to that, we (the BLP) also felt that it would be useful to have a state enterprise created that would enable Barbadians to have ownership of the oil via a purchase of shares in that enterprise so that the creation of wealth throughout generations and across generations is maintained,” he said.