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THURSDAY, JANUARY 11, 2018
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URCA eases Sebas’s radio delay ‘hardship’
Oil explorer’s success prospects ‘four times’ better than average
By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
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egulators have moved to ease “the hardship suffered” by Sebas Bastian after the Island Luck chief’s radio launch was blocked by an ongoing court dispute. Tribune Business can reveal that the Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority (URCA) has permitted Mr Bastian’s radio joint venture to broadcast using a “temporary” FM frequency - a move that has angered rival operators. Mr Bastian’s majorityowned Paramount Systems joint venture was supposed to use the 103.5 FM frequency formerly employed by ZSR Sports Radio, a station established by Olympic triple jump medallist, Frank
* Island Luck’s radio JV gets temporary frequency * Regulator defends move; denies ‘special treatment’ * Rival operators cry foul as legal battle continues
SEE PAGE 4
ISLAND LUCK boss Sebas Bastian.
A BAHAMAS-based oil explorer has received “a great endorsement” from independent experts who confirmed its chances of success are at least four times’ higher than the industry average. Simon Potter, Bahamas Petroleum Company’s (BPC) chief executive, told Tribune Business that confirmation of the validity of its underwater seismic data “can only be positive” for its joint venture partner search. The exploration outfit, whose licence gives it until April 2018 to spud its first exploratory well in waters south-west of Andros, hired Moyes & Co, a petroleum industry consultancy, in August 2017 to assess its prospects of striking ‘black
* BPC RECEIVES ‘GREAT ENDORSEMENT’ * INDEPENDENT AUDIT BACKS DISCOVERY CHANCES * MULTI-BILLION BARREL ESTIMATES BOOST JV SEARCH gold’ in Bahamian waters. The independent analysis, just unveiled by BPC, calculated the company’s “probability of success” for each of the seabed oil sources it is targeting as between 25 per cent to 35 per cent. Mr Potter said this far exceeded the oil industry’s typical 5-10 per cent average, with Moyes & Co verifying that the amount of oil economically recoverable from
SEE PAGE 8
BDB OFFERS AS ‘VEHICLE’ GOV’T MISSES URCA ‘HOLY GRAIL’ ON GB POWER DEAL FOR MINISTRIES’ GOALS * ‘SILVER PLATTER CHANCE’ FOR REGULATOR CHANGE
By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
THE Bahamas Development Bank (BDB) plans to offer itself as a “vehicle” through which government ministries can realise their goals in industries such as tourism, agriculture and culture. Lynden Nairn, the bank’s chairman, told Tribune Business that steps had
* EYES AGRICULTURE, JUNKANOO MUSEUMS, NATURAL RESOURCES * AIMING TO EXPAND BEYOND PURE LENDING INSTITUTION * MARKETING ‘UMBRELLA’ FOR DELINQUENT FISHING LODGES SEE PAGE 3
NO ‘SHOW STOPPERS’ ON GRAND LUCAYAN DEAL By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE Government will respond to the Wynn Group’s Grand Lucayan Heads of Agreement (HOA) proposal by week’s end, a source saying: “There aren’t any show stoppers yet.” Tribune Business sources familiar with the deal’s
progress, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Cabinet committee dealing with the Grand Lucayan deal had spent Monday examining Wynn’s proposed terms ‘line by line’ “There are lots of details to be worked out in the Heads of Agreement, and the Government spent a lot
SEE PAGE 11
By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
THE Government has missed its “Holy Grail” by failing to tie approval of the $35 million GB Power buy-out to the utility “subjecting itself” to URCA’s regulation. Fred Smith QC, the Callenders & Co attorney and partner, told Tribune Business that the Government was “dumb” and “visionless” not to use the deal to
* COURT GIVES BUY-OUT CHALLENGE GO-AHEAD * QC WARNS: ‘WE WON’T GO QUIETLY’
achieve other key objectives, as he revealed the Supreme Court has given permission for his Judicial Review challenging the buy-out to proceed. He argued that the Government should have imposed “a number of conditions” for approving the buy-out of all
Bahamian minority investors in GB Power, and the de-listing from BISX of the utility’s 50 per cent owner, ICD Utilities. Top among them, Mr Smith argued, should have been GB Power dropping its opposition - including Supreme Court actions - to being regulated by
the Utilities Regulation & Competition Authority (URCA) rather than the Grand Bahama Port Authority (GBPA). Besides allowing Bahamian shareholders to own shares directly in GB Power, the outspoken QC added that Grand Bahama’s monopoly utility should also have been mandated to publicly disclose its annual financial statements. “My suggestion, that the
SEE PAGE 2