Pickersgill JAMAICA'S CRUDE oil reserves have been boosted under a one-year contract signed with Nigeria last August which has seen the Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica (PCJ) lift about one million barrels of Nigerian crude per month.
The agreement indemnifies the PCJ against all losses and guarantees the company a minimum return of US7.5 cents per barrel.
In a release yesterday, Mining and Ener-gy Minister, Bobby Pickersgill, said the contract bolstered Jam-aica's energy security as, in the event of a scarcity of oil, some of the Nigerian crude could be bartered or exchanged with other crudes.
In July 2000, the PCJ was given a new allocation of 20,000 barrels per day. However this amount was subsequently increased to 30,000 barrels.
The crude oil is sold on the international market by the London-based company Trafigura, which was contracted by the PCJ to lift its cargoes from Nigeria.
Because of distance and the fact the 35-foot draught at Petrojam cannot accommodate large tankers, it is still not commercially feasible to bring the oil to Jamaica.
Mr. Pickersgill said the financial benefits to the PCJ and the country would be conditioned by the market situation for oil over the 12-month period beginning in October 2000.
The new contract comes in the wake of initiatives by Prime Minister, P.J. Patterson and President Obasanjo of Nigeria.
An initial agreement had been forged by both countries beginning in 1979 during the administration of late Prime Minister Michael Manley.
