Page 4 - LatAmOil Week 45 2021

COMMENTAR
LatAmOil COMMENTARY Y LatAmOil

Juniper platform offshore Trinidad and Tobago (Photo: BP)
Making the case

for oil and gas

Guyana, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago won’t be following

Costa Rica in calling for an end to hydrocarbon exploration

COSTA Rica has made headlines at the COP26 government. (San Jose opted in 2002 to impose
climate conference in Glasgow this week by act- a moratorium on hydrocarbon exploration until
WHAT: ing as the co-chair of the Beyond Oil and Gas 2050, and it has succeeded in bringing renewa-
Costa Rica is in the spot- Alliance (BOGA), a group of 11 countries that ble energy sources’ share of total domestic elec-
light as the co-chairman has called for bringing oil and gas licensing tricity production up to 99.7% as of 2020.) They
of the Beyond Oil and Gas rounds to an immediate halt. are also congruent with the recommendations
Alliance (BOGA). In a statement announcing the roll-out of the made by the UN Framework Convention on
BOGA initiative, Costa Rica’s Minister of Envi- Climate Change (UNFCCC) and by environ-
WHY: ronment and Energy Andrea Meza indicated mental advocacy groups.
Three other Latin Ameri- that his country had taken this step because it So far, Costa Rica is the only country in the
can and Caribbean states favoured concrete action with respect to decar- Latin American and Caribbean region to take
have spoken up to defend
fossil fuels. bonisation. “The Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance this stance. Meanwhile, there are at least three
raises the bar from climate action,” he declared. other states in the region that have used COP26
WHAT NEXT: “If we want to address the climate crisis, we need as an opportunity to advocate for a very different
There is still room for a managed but decisive phase-out of oil and gas approach to oil and gas exploration.
debate about the fairness production. I am delighted that new members
and feasibility of pushing are joining forces with Costa Rica and Denmark Trinidad and Tobago’s resolve
poorer countries to give to set a date for the end of fossil fuel production.” One of the three is Trinidad and Tobago, a Car-
up on oil and gas. Meza’s remarks are not just in line with the ibbean island state with ample reserves of nat-
climate policies favoured by the Costa Rican ural gas.

P4 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 45 11•November•2021