Tuesday 31st May, 2011: The New National Party (NNP) shadow minister for Finance, Senator Anthony Boatswain has called on the NDC Government to take immediate action to stabilize the price of petroleum products on the Grenadian market.

Speaking at the NNP’s March and Rally on Sunday May 29th, to protest the high cost of living in Grenada, Senator Boatswain stated that the price of a barrel of oil had reached US$140.00 during his tenure in office and yet the NNP Government saw it as prudent to ensure that petroleum products were stabilized to make them affordable to the average Grenadian.

He spoke of the NNP Government having subsidized the cost of petroleum products to guarantee that prices never got to the stage where Grenadians are presently paying over EC$15.00 for a gallon of gasoline. The former Minister of Finance also spoke of what he described as the ‘selling out’ of Grenada’s oil and gas potential deposits, by the present government.

Senator Boatswain chided the NDC Administration for signing a boundary delimitation treaty with the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, without knowledge of the potential oil resources which may exist in the territory.   He further stated that the agreement should have had a clause for joint exploration, therefore allowing Grenada to share in any discoveries found in the area.

At present, the Oil Rigs of Trinidad and Tobago is positioned close to the boundary and based on the positioning of the Hydrogen Carbon reserves imbedded in the rocks, Grenada’s reserves could be drawn away, thus causing the country to loose Billions.  By far, this development is tantamount to giving away the people’s Patrimony.