The race for oil: will Jamaica be the next country to drill and what does that mean for its green pledges?

Hydrocarbons detected in seabed samples off Jamaica’s south coast indicate the possible presence of crude oil below ground. Jamaica currently imports all fuel, costing about $1.5–2bn annually, and this dependence burdens the economy. An exclusive exploration licence for the Walton-Morant basin, a 22,400 sq km block off the southern coast, is held by United Oil & Gas. Surface oil seeps have been documented across the island, but no commercial production has occurred. The energy minister described the findings as very positive while noting that the real oil has not yet been confirmed. Environmental concerns were raised about expanding fossil fuel extraction amid the climate crisis and a broader green energy transition.

"Tests on samples from the seabed off the Caribbean island's south coast earlier this year identified hydrocarbons, which suggest the presence of crude oil below ground. Jamaica imports all its fuel, which costs about $1.5-2bn (1.1bn-1.5bn) annually, depending on global oil prices. It is a persistent drag on an economy that generated $4.3bn from tourism, its biggest earner, in 2024."

"United Oil & Gas, a UK-based company, holds an exclusive exploration licence for the Walton-Morant basin, a 22,400sq km (8,650 sq mile) block off the island's southern coast. Surface oil seeps have been repeatedly documented across the island, but so far there has been no commercial oil production. Jamaicans in Westmoreland parish transfer petrol during the shortage that followed Hurricane Melissa last November."

"News of a potential oil discovery was met with guarded optimism by the government. In a public statement, Daryl Vaz, the energy minister, calls the results very positive. They haven't seen or touched the real deal, but [the results] are still important, he says. I am cautiously optimistic and praying very hard because of what the impact of any discovery would be."

"If we want to have any kind of moral high ground we cannot be considering expanding the fossil fuel industry Theresa Rodriguez-Moodie, environmentalist If oil is confirmed within its territorial waters, the island will join Guyana and Suriname as the newest fossil fuel-producing states in the region. About half of the countries across Latin America and the Caribbean are in a race to find oil, after Brazil discovered deep-water reserves in the Atlantic in the 2000s."

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