41. If oil is found and produced, Barbados has the option of taking oil in lieu of taxes and royalty fees. 42. However, fellow participant Petroz has already noted that production is likely to be extended with recent exploration in the area finding more oil on structures nearby. 43. If he finds oil, he will need further permission to produce it. 44. Its economy relied mostly on export of tropical produce, mainly cocoa, until oil was found two years ago in its territorial waters. 45. Oil was found near the border with Iraq eight years ago, but the commercial viability of the find has yet to be established. 46. Shell, whose major shareholder is the Anglo-Dutch company, Shell Petroleum, left Mozambique two decades ago when it failed to find oil there. 47. Supercomputers and three-dimensional seismic surveys now allow companies to find oil that lay camouflaged beneath massive layers of salt. 48. The government shouldered the risk by not obligating the companies to repay the loans if no oil was found. 49. The economy relied mostly on the export of tropical produce, mainly cocoa, until oil was found two years ago in its territorial waters. 50. There is, of course, no guarantee that the operator may find oil at all or in commercially viable quantities. |