Devon Evans, Gleaner Writer

Ocho Rios, St Ann:

The Jamaica Labour Party is threatening to take the Government to task in Parliament over its handling of an oil exploration deal signed recently with two foreign-based companies.

According to JLP leader, Bruce Golding, neither the Opposition nor the people of Jamaica are aware of the terms and conditions of the agreement, which he said needed full parliamentary scrutiny.

It is understood, said Mr Golding, that the Govern-ment had entered into an arrangement with an Austra-lian and a Canadian oil exploration company to search for oil off the coast of Jamaica, based on a recent assessment, which has heightened prospects of the country's oil reserves.

Treating it personal

Mr. Golding charged that the Government was treating the matter as if it were their own personal business and that he had asked the party's spokespersons on finance and energy, Audley Shaw and Clive Mullings respectively, to raise the matter in Parliament at its next sitting.

Mr. Golding was guest speaker at the 55th Annual Banquet of the Jamaica Gasolene Retailers Associa-tion held at the Sunset Jamaica Grande Resort, in Ocho Rios, St. Ann, on September 16.