***********************
Oil
in Haiti and Oil Refinery - an old notion for Fort Liberte as a transshipment
terminal for US supertankers
Another
economic reason for the ouster of President Aristide and current UN
occupation (Haiti's
Riches:Interview with Ezili Dantò on Mining in Haiti)
| 
|
| Located
in the North-Eastern part of Haiti and abounding with tourist
sites, Fort-Liberté is a city where the first declaration
of Haiti's independence took place on November 29, 1803. It has
one of the most captivating historical sites in the area called
Fort Dauphin known today as Fort-Liberté. This fort was
built around 1731 under the command of Louis XV, king of France,
and its ruins are the greatest evidences of its genius designers
who chose the most strategic point to built it in order to fight
off upcoming invaders.
In addition to its architectural charm, it overlooks a splendid
bay of turquoise seawater, which sparkles under the bright rays
of the tropical sun. |
There
is evidence that the United States found oil in Haiti decades ago and
due to the geopolitical circumstances and big business interests of
that era made the decision to keep Haitian oil in reserve for when Middle
Eastern oil had dried up. This is detailed by Dr.
Georges Michel
in an article dated March 27, 2004 outlining the history of oil explorations
and oil reserves in Haiti and in the research of Dr. Ginette and Daniel
Mathurin.
There is also good evidence that these very same big US oil companies
and their inter-related monopolies of engineering and defense contractors
made plans, decades ago, to use Haiti's deep water ports either for
oil refineries or to develop oil tank farm sites or depots where crude
oil could be stored and later transferred to small tankers to serve
U.S. and Caribbean ports. This is detailed in a paper
about
the Dunn
Plantation at Fort Liberte
in Haiti.
Ezili's HLLN underlines these two papers on Haiti's oil resources and
the works of Dr.
Ginette and Daniel Mathurin in order to provide
a view one will not find in the mainstream media nor anywhere else as
to the economic and strategic reasons the US has constructed its fifth
largest embassy in the world - fifth only besides the US embassy in
China, Iraq, Iran and Germany - in tiny Haiti, post the 2004 Haiti Bush
regime change.
The facts outlined in the Dunn Plantation and Georges Michel papers,
considered together, reasonably unveil part of the hidden reasons UN
Special Envoy to Haiti, Bill
Clinton, is giving the UN occupation a facelift
so that its troops stay in Haiti for the duration.
Ezili's HLLN has consistently maintained, since the beginning of the
2004 Bush regime change in Haiti, that the 2004 US invasion of Haiti
used UN troops as its military proxy to avoid the charge of imperialism
and racism. We have also consistently maintained that the UN/US invasion
and occupation of Haiti is not about protecting Haitian rights, security
stability or long-term domestic development but about returning the
Washington Chimeres/[gangsters] - the traditional Haitian Oligarchs
- to power, establishing free trade not fair trade, the Chicago-boys'
death plan, neoliberal policies, keeping the minimum wage at slave wage
levels, plundering Haiti's natural
resources and riches, not to mention using the location benefit
that Haiti lies between Cuba and Venezuela. In the Dunn Plantation and
Georges Michel papers, we find and deploy further details as to why
the US is in Haiti with this attempted Bill
Clinton facelift to the UN's continued occupations.
For,
no matter the disguise or media spins it's also about Haiti's oil reserves,
Haiti as transshipment ports for oil or as tank sites for storage of
crude oil and about securing Haiti's
deep-water ports, without interference from a democratic government,
for the exclusive use of the world's oligarchs and big oil monopolies.
(See, Map
showing some of Haiti's mining and mineral wealth, including five oil
sites in Haiti;Oil
in Haiti
by Dr.
Georges Michel;
Excerpt
from the Dunn Plantation paper;
Haiti
is full of oil, say Ginette and Daniel Mathurin; Is
UN proxy occupation of Haiti masking US securing oil/gas reserves from
Haiti, and also, "Further
research will be necessary to confirm the existence of oil in Haiti".
)
In an excerpt
taken from the article posted Oct 9, 2000 by Bob Perdue entitled "Lonnie
Dunn, third owner of the Dauphin plantation," we learn
that:
"On November 8, 1973, Martha C. Carbone, American Embassy,
Port-au-Prince, sent a letter to the Office of Fuels and Energy, Department
of State, in which she stated that the Government of Haiti "...had
before it proposals from eight different groups to establish a trans-shipment
port for petroleum in one or more of the Haitian deep water ports. Some
of the projects include construction of a refinery...." She further
commented that the Embassy was acquainted with three firms: Ingram Corporation
of New Orleans, Southern California Gas Company and Williams Chemical
Corporation of Florida.. (According to John Moseley, the New Orleans
company was probably "Ingraham", not Ingram.)
In the November 6, 1972 issue of Oil and Gas Journal, Leo B. Aalund
commented in his article "Vast Flight of Refining Capacity from
U.S. Looms",.: "Finally, 'Baby Doc' Duvalier's Haiti is participating
with a group that wants to build a transshipment terminal off Fort Liberte,
Haiti". One of the proposals referred to by Carbone was undoubtedly
submitted by Dunn interests.
Additionally, we learn from this article that "Lonnie Dunn who
owned the
Dauphin plantation "planned to straighten and widen the entrance
to the [Fort Liberte] bay so that super tankers could be brought in
and the cargo distributed to smaller tankers for transfer to U.S. and
Caribbean ports that could not accommodate large ships..."
(Photo
of Fort Liberte, Haiti).
We've put on the Ezili's HLLN website
the other
relevant portions
of this paper that talks about the corporate eye the US has had, for
decades, on Fort Liberte in Haiti as an ideal deep water port for the
multinationals to establish an oil refinery.
In the 50s and 60s there was little need for Haiti's ports or oil as
the Middle Eastern monopoly was gushing dollars galore. No need for
these oil monopolies to undercut themselves by putting more oil on the
market to cut their profits. Manipulated scarcity thy name is profit!
or, did I mean capitalism?
But
the oil embargo of the 70s, the advent of OPEC, the rise of the Venezuelan
factor, the Gulf Crisis followed by the Iraq war for oil, all has made
Haiti a better bet for the three-piece suits and their military mercernaries
called "Western governments", yep, a way easier place to pillage
and plunder behind the "bringing democracy" or "humanitarian
aid" public covers.
Serendipitously with Haiti's 2004 Bush-the-son Regime Change, a follow
up to the 1991 Bush-the-father's military coup, we find, flurries
of Congressional "discussions" about off-shore
drillings in preparation, perhaps, to the eventual "revelation"
as written in the Dunn
paper
years ago, that "there is a need for supertankers that require
deep-water ports which are not readily available along the U.S. East
Coast - nor ...welcome...for environmental and other consideration will
(not) permit the construction of domestic refinery capacity on the scale
that will be required."
We underline that Haiti is an ideal dumping ground for the US/Canada/France
and now Brazil,
because environmental, human rights and health issues and other considerations
in the US and in these other countries, would probably not permit the
construction of domestic refinery capacity on the scale that new explorations
of oil in this hemisphere will required. So, why not pick the most militarily
defenseless country in the Western Hemisphere and dot it with such unsafe
initiatives behind a UN multi-national "humanitarian" mask
and fatherly Bill Clinton's snowy white hair and smiling face?
It is relevant to note here that most of Haiti's major deep water ports
have been privatized since the Bush 2004 regime change in Haiti. It
is also relevant to note here what I wrote last year in the piece titled
Is the UN military proxy occupation of Haiti
masking US securing oil/gas reserves from Haiti: "If
there's substantial oil and gas reserves in Haiti, the US/Euro genocide
and crimes against the Haitian population has not yet begun. Ayisyen
leve zye nou anwo, kenbe red. Nou fèk komanse goumen. (Read
again, John Maxwell's Is
there oil in Haiti.)
The revelations of Dr. Georges Michel and the Dunn Plantation papers
seem to positively answer the question that there is substantail oil
reserves in Haiti. And our Ezili Dantò Witness Project information
is that it's indeed being tapped and contracted out, but not for the
benefit of Haitians or Haiti's authentic development. That's why there
was a need to marginalize the Haitian masses through the ouster of Haiti's
democratically elected Aristide government and put in the UN guns and
UN occupation that today masks the US/Euros' (with a piece to the new
power that is Brazil) securing Haiti's oil and gas reserves and other
mineral riches such as gold, copper, diamond and underwater treasures.
(Majescor
and SACG Discover a New Copper-Gold in Haiti, Oct. 6, 2009;
See,
Haiti's Riches.)
Today, the US and Euros say they are happy with Haiti's "security
gains" and "stable" government. To wit: the last elections
the US/UN presided over in Haiti excluded Haiti's majority party from
participation. Haiti's jails are filled, indefinitely detained without
trial or hearings, since 2004, with thousands upon thousands of community
organizers, poor civilians and political dissenters that the UN/US label
"gangsters." Site Soley has been "pacified." There
are more NGOs and charitable organizations in Haiti then in any where
in the world since 2004 and the Haitian people are a million times worst
off than they were before this US/NGO civilization (otherwise also known
as the "International Community") and their thugs, thieves
and corporate death squads came and disenfranchised nine million blacks.
Food prices are so high, some resort to eating dirt in the form of cookies
to assuage Clorox hunger.
Lovinsky Pierre Antoine, the head of Haiti's largest human rights organization
was disappeared in 2007 in UN occupied Haiti with no investigation done.
Between 2004 and 2006 under the Western occupation, first by the US
Marines then the UN multinational troops headed by Brazil, from 14,000
to 20,000 Haitians, mostly who opposed the occupation and regime change,
were slaughtered with total impunity. More Haitian children are out
of school today in 2009 than before the US/NGO "civilization"
came post 2004. Under the US-imposed Boca Raton regime ,Haiti's Supreme
Court was fired and brand new and paid-for judges, without any Constitutional
authority inherited from the people of Haiti's mandate, took the place
of the legitimate judges and law officers and are still metering out
paid-for rulings in 2009 under the UN occupation and international community's
tutelage.
And, as a matter of power, privilege, inequity and the violence of neocolonialism,
white-sex abusers
and pedophiles are having a hay day and human trafficking
of Haiti children are at an all-time high. It is no revelation that
in the stakes of corruption in Haiti or in Africa that a great many
of the foreign NGOs along with their bourgeois/elite/pastors/priests
and others are destroying poor children's life with absolute impunity
while being painted as "saints" in their press back home the
better to raise more funds to masturbate on Black pain some more.
Yet, Special UN Envoy, Bill Clinton, tells us "I am serving the
next two years as a US Special Envoy to Haiti...This is the best chance
in my lifetime that Haitians have ever had to escape the chains of their
past..." The former President added, "If Haiti pulls out of
this it will be in no small measure because of the efforts of non-governmental
organizations."
What that means is perhaps this is the Haitian subcontractors, ruling
oligarchs and US/Euro military industrial
complexes' best chance to finally impose their chains on Haiti for good.
Tap Haiti's oil, keep it so poor it will be grateful for slave wages
at sweatshops. Let sexual tourism and the white sex-abusers do as they
will. Transfer quickly more Haiti properties to foreigners and render
the "good" Haitians as maids, butlers and servants in US/Euro-owned
Haiti tourist resorts like the rest of the Caribbean. Militarize Haiti
so that dissent is not possible even as a thought. That's perhaps UN
Envoy, Bill Clinton's "best chance in my lifetime" scenario
for Haiti. Nothing else makes sense. (See, HLLN
comment on new IMF figures indicating Haiti is no longer the poorest
country in the Western Hemisphere and
Does the Western economic calculation of wealth
fit Haiti -fit Dessalines idea of wealth distribution?NO!
and Comparing
crime, poverty and violence in the rest of the Hemisphere to Haiti and
Pointing Guns at Starving Haitians: Violent Haiti
is a myth and The
Western vs the Real Narrative on Haiti and No
other national group anywhere in the world sends more money home than
Haitians living abroad.)
Going
shopping in Haiti:
Though they exist and form the exception to the rule, there are very
few Paul Farmers and Bill Quigleys in the Haitian world. Few who would
HEAR, Lila Watson who said, "If you have come here to help
me then you are wasting your time, but if you have come because your
liberation is bound up with mine then let us work together."
This sort of thinking that inspires and provide the conditions for those
in great need to, in liberty and identify, realize their own needs is
not what compels the "International Community" in Haiti right
now.
For, in the age of humanitarian imperialism, globalization, financial
colonialism and neocolonial-violence obfuscated behind forced assimilation
and cultural imperialism, what exactly do some whites or modern missionaries
go shopping in Haiti for: sex, self-esteem, adulation, to exploit cheap
labor, plunder Haiti's natural resources, for self-improvement, recovery,
to use Haiti as in excuse to raise funds for their salaries and living
expenses, or as an easy way to gain international expert credentials
in any field and move up the socio-economic ladder at home and/or for
securing the good tropical lifestyle with mountain and oceanfront houses,
the maids, gardeners and seafood they couldn't obtain as easily in their
Euro/US countries where they are the majority, ordinary, can’t
use the white privilege inheritance without some scrutiny and are not
as exotic and special as in neocolonial devastated Haiti. It’s
all hidden, of course, behind the mask of being good humanitarians and
helping Haitians.
Ezili Dantò/HLLN
October, 2009
**********
***********************
Oil
in Haiti, by Dr. Georges Michel , webzinemaker.com,
March 27, 2004 [This
English translation is an HLLN courtersy for our English speakers. Please
refer to the French
Original.]
Since
time immemorial, it has been no secret that deep in the earthy bowels
of the two states that share the island of Haiti and the surrounding
waters that there are significant, still untapped deposits of oil. One
knows not why they are still untapped.
Since the early twentieth century, the physical and political map of
the island of Haiti, erected in 1908 by Messrs. Alexander Poujol and
Henry Thomasset, reported a major oil reservoir
in Haiti near the source of the Rio Todo El Mondo, Tributary Right Artibonite
River, better known today as the River Thomonde. (Perhaps the word Thomonde
is derived from de Todo El Mondo?) The deposit of oil in question straddles
the boundary between the boroughs of Hinche and Mirebalais in a mountainous
area located at the foot of the chain of the Black Mountains, direction
due west of Thomond.
The same map indicates an oil reservoir in the Dominican plain of Azua,
a short distance north of the Dominican Republic in the town of Azua.
According to our information, the latter oil field located in the Dominican
Republic had actually been operating in the first half of this century,
produced up to 60,000 barrels of oil per day and had closed because
it was considered at the time "insufficiently profitable."
Also in the Dominican Republic, there was announced, in 1982, a discovery,
in front of the plain of the Azua, of a huge oil field offshore at the
coast of Barahona. But this deposit has been left untapped.
Those who have traveled from Port-au-Prince to Santo-Domingo can testify
that the plain of the Azua and its coastline very much resembles the
area of Vieux Bourg d'Aquin and its related coast. Therefore, reasonable
chances are that there is hydrocarbon deposits in the counterpart Haitian
region, especially as we are told that in the plains of Cayes there
is geological evidence of the presence of oil, as well as at the Bay
of Cayes, Les Cayes and between Ile a Vache.
In 1975 we bathed in the waters of Les Cayes and noticed that our feet
was covered by a sort of black oil seeping from the seabed. A fisherman
from the place explained that this was not uncommon in the area.
He reports similar phenomena in other regions of Haiti - it seems so
in the plains of Leogane and at the foothills of Morne-à-Cabrit.
It's also been reported that there is the presence of oil shale in the
province of Grand Anse.
There are still many places on our island
(Haiti and Dominican Republic) that meet all the geological criteria
for the presence of hydrocarbons. In Haiti, include the plains of Cayes,
the plain of Leogane, the plain of Cul-de-Sac, the Gonaives plain and
the deserted Savannah, the Plaine du Nord. Ile de la Gonave and corresponding
coastlines to the off-shore deposits. In this list, do not forget the
large sedimentary basin of the Central Plateau of Haiti.
In the course of the 1950s, the Knappen-Tippen-Abbet company (nicknamed
by the local people "the company for small bread and butter")
conducted drillings in La Gonave, in the Cul-de-Sac plains, in the Plateau-Central
and in the region of Gonaives. All of these drillings had proved extremely
promising and the results were beyond expectations. However, the big
multinational oil companies operating in Haiti pushed for the discovered
deposits not to be exploited. Haiti was neither Saudi Arabia nor Kuwait.
At a time when a barrel of crude oil sold for just over a dollar, and
the Persian Gulf provided oil galore, there was no reason for these
companies to put in production these oil fields deemed much less profitable.
Especially while ARAMCO [then
known as the Arabian American Oil Company] was, rain or shine
in Arabia, at a low price, even to the point of looting the precious
oil resources of this kingdom.
[The attitude of these big multinational oil companies
was] "We shall keep the Haitian deposits and other such layers
of deposits in reserve for the 21st century when the Middle Eastern
jackpot are depleted." This is what happened! The wells of Knappen-Tippen-Abbet
were numbered, carefully locked or sealed with cement and forgotten.
The reports of the huge drillings were not, it
seems, supposed to be made public to the Haitians. Do you think they
would ever hand over to a bunch of backward negroes, information that
would allow them to work towards their own economic liberation? This
would make them too strong and give too much power to little Haiti.
Haitians had to wait half a century or a century for that. However,
the successful countryside of the Knappen-Tibben-Abbet company, allowed
for a great deal of opportunity to many Haitian schools, preparing primary
school students for their certificate and studying in the geography
textbook of Haiti from the Brothers of Christian Instruction, to learn
that our land had oil reservoirs in the Central Plateau and La Gonave.
This, did not fall on deaf ears ...
It is generally known, in all circles, that there are petroleum hydrocarbon
deposits in the bowels of the island of Haiti. But the petroleum industry/circles
are not eager to put into production these so readily available Haiti
oil reserves. Other more important areas were already identified as
major oil producing regions of the world. [The thinking was] there will
always be time to think about the island of Haiti.
However, [these big oil entities and the powerful nations] did think
of us during the Gulf crisis when Kuwaiti deposits, the Saudis and other
oil reservoirs were threatened by Saddam Hussein. If the Cubans had
not made a great effort by themselves to put their own oil in exploitation,
nobody would have done it for them. If it were not for the efforts of
the Cubans, Cuban oil would still be housed in the bowels of the earth,
as it remains for Haitian oil. The ball is in our camp ...
If the big oil companies are not interested in our oil, we should ask
our Cuban neighbors to come help us exploit it. In their dramatic search
for oil, the Cubans have developed technology and know-how that we could,
in return for their services, yield to the Cubans part of our domestic
oil production and give them a share of profits. A mission of government
officials and businessmen in Haiti should leave for Cuba in this direction.
The sad case of the international embargo clearly shows that we must
fend for ourselves, and especially that we do not have to wait for the
OK from the United States when our vital interests are in peril. The
whole of our society is aware and sees well how our big northern neighbor
has treated us and shall treat us in the future. Haiti will be saved
by Haitians and Haitians only, that is the principle lesson of the embargo.
If our oil was available, we would not have been shamefully forced to
capitulate after the oil embargo decided in defiance of international
law with their infamous Resolution 841, by the great powers now bearing
the pompous and ridiculous name of "international community".
Our government, our big businessmen, our ultra-liberal economists, our
big smugglers, our Chicago-Servant-Boys, our anti-nationalists and others
ruffians, prefer to import [everything, even] air, rather than to put
to use the resources of Haiti. With a zeal that is hard to understand,
they blindly obey the bidding orders of the IMF and World Bank, and
are put together with these two organizations to destroy the Haitian
economy, especially our valuable agriculture.
Nevertheless, they find themselves caught out with us. And when imperialism,
to meet its gruesome intentions, decides to impose an embargo, the last
embargo (there will be perhaps more in the future, who knows?) has proven
the need to accelerate economic integration with the Dominican Republic.
Both Republics should undertake, by treaty, to provide each other with
some oil no matter the decisions of a third party. A trans-island pipeline,
Barahona to Port-au-Prince, could be part of this oil integration between
the two countries that share the island.
While waiting to be able to consume our own oil, whose surpluses shall
also provide the valuable currency we need, we should increase the country's
storage capacity for oil products and consider how to stockpile important
strategic reserves on the territory of the Republic. The oil embargo
of 1991 is also a strong argument for rebuilding our railways.
Dr Georges Michel
27 mars 2004
Translated by Ezili Dantò of HLLN,
Oct. 2009 [Please
refer to the French
Original.]
***********************
Why
Clinton, the UN occupation and another reasons for being in Haiti: Deep
Water Ports -
The following excerpt was taken from:
Lonnie
Dunn, third owner of the Dauphin plantation (emphasis added).
"...On November 8, 1973, Martha
C. Carbone, American Embassy, Port-au-Prince, sent a letter to
the Office of Fuels and Energy, Department of State, in which she stated
that the Government of Haiti "...had before it proposals
from eight different groups to establish a trans-shipment port for petroleum
in one or more of the Haitian deep water ports. Some of the projects
include construction of a refinery...."
She further commented that the Embassy was acquainted with three firms:
Ingram Corporation of New Orleans, Southern California Gas Company and
Williams Chemical Corporation of Florida.. (According to John Moseley,
the New Orleans company was probably "Ingraham", not Ingram.)
In the November 6, 1972 issue of Oil and Gas Journal, Leo B. Aalund
commented in his article "Vast Flight of Refining Capacity from
U.S. Looms",.: "Finally, 'Baby Doc' Duvalier's Haiti is participating
with a group that wants to build a transshipment terminal off
Fort Liberte, Haiti". One of the proposals referred to
by Carbone was undoubtedly submitted by Dunn interests.
I suspect that in this project Dunn was tied in with Southern California
Gas Co. According to Mike Shanks, Dunn was involved with McCollum, a
Texaco V.P. and James Knapp, a V.P. of Pacific Lighting. At that time,
Southern California Gas Co. was a subsidiary of Pacific Lighting (which
became Pacific Enterprises in 1988). (According to John Moseley of the
Brown and Root engineering firm, the associate referred
to here by Shanks as a Texaco V.P. was H. M. McCollum of Conoco.) (According
to Mrs. Eleanor Searle McCollum, her late husband was Leonard F. "Mc"
McCollum, President and CEO of Conoco Oil for 20 years. She added in
a letter: "There is no H.M. McCollum."
****To the Carbone letter, George M.
Bennsky, Director, Office of Fuels and Energy, responded: "U.S.
Policy heavily favors deep-water ports in our own waters rather than
those in non-U.S. locations. "There is, however, some doubt whether
environmental and other considerations will permit the construction
of domestic refinery capacity on the scale that will be required".
Dunn planned to straighten
and widen the entrance to the bay so that super tankers could be brought
in and the cargo distributed to smaller tankers for transfer to U.S.
and Caribbean ports that could not accommodate large ships.
He further intended to develop a facility to break down old ships for
scrap and repair others. According to Albert Hill, who came to HASCO
as an engineer and ended up as President of that company, another player
in Dunn's harbor scheme was Daniel Ludwig whose name is also associated
with efforts to develop the Amazon Basin.
The sinuous entrance to the bay is about
2.5 kilometers long and 400 meters across at its narrowest; three points
jut out from the east bank, each the site of an ancient French fort.
The larger of these, still a rather spectacular site, is Fort Labouc
on the Atlantic Ocean at the east side of the entrance to the bay..
The 1:50,000 "Phaeton" topographic map of the area, prepared
in 1963, indicates the depth of the entrance to the bay is at least
10 fathoms throughout; some areas are much deeper. A substantial area
in the center of the bay has a depth of 12 to 14 fathoms.
An engineering study was conducted by
Charley Vaughn, Basil Maxwell and John Moseley of Brown and
Root Co., Marine Division, to provide a cost estimate for a
dredger to widen the entrance to Fort Liberte Bay. They were flown from
Miami to Port-au-Prince in Dunn's King Air turboprop and after clearing
customs were flown to Fort Liberte on a Plantation
aircraft. "With all that sisal it looked like Arizona or northern
Mexico", said Moseley. The plan was to widen the entrance by slicing
away the projections on the east side, which would have destroyed three
of the old French forts. Drill cores indicated the surface layer of
coral was underlain by gravel. To enable a large tanker to turn around,
a "finger pier" would be installed from the south shore to
the deeper center of the bay, about 1000 meters northwest of Fort Saint
Joseph.. This long narrow berth for two ships - the project was planned
for ships of 300,000 tons - also provided a trestle for a ship to shore
pipeline and was large enough to drive a truck to the end of the pier..
A logical point for the foot of the
pier might have been where Fort Saint Joseph projects into the bay and
this development could have destroyed that ancient structure. However,
according to John Moseley, there was to be an angle turn in the trestle
to land to the southeast of the Plantation headquarters to a suitable
tank farm site and avoid disturbing the fort.
According to Moseley, the plan was to
develop a tank farm where crude oil could be stored and later transferred
to small tankers to serve U.S. and Caribbean ports. There were no plans
for a refinery. According to Jean Claude Leger, Frederick Snare Co.,
Chappell Hill, Texas, would construct the oil transfer facility. (Moseley
indicates the Frederick Snare Co. was probably headquartered in Chapel
Hill, NC, not in Texas.)
Moseley does not recall the time of
his visit but it must have been during the early years of Dunn's ownership
of the Plantation because, by late 1973 the Government of Haiti apparently
had the Dunn group's proposal in hand and it seems likely there would
be a considerable time lapse between the B&R engineering
study and submission of the proposal. Moseley's visit was clearly prior
to the time sisal harvest and decortication was renewed because when
I asked,: "What was happening on the Plantation at the time?",
he responded: "There was not much activity, just grinding poverty
and there was only one white on the Plantation at the time, a young
man with a German accent". There were only about 100 cattle (high-dollar
type) with more to be airlifted in. Dunn's son, Lonnie, Jr., "Ran
the cattle end.".All this came to naught, probably because of the
October 1973 Arab oil embargo following the Yom Kippur War...."
(Haiti:
Dauphin Plantation: Lonnie Dunn, third owner.)
(Ezili Danto's Note: But
times have changed .... There is a need for "supertankers that
required deep-water ports which are not readily available along the
U.S. east coast - nor were (..) welcome..for environmental and other
considerations will (not) permit the construction of domestic refinery
capacity on the scale that will be required"
Thus, in addition to the details outline in Haiti's
Riches and elsewhere by Ezili's HLLN, part of the reason
for the US to want Haiti is because of its many deep water ports, especially
"Fort
Liberte Bay and its potential as a deep-water port.")
***********************
Haiti
is full of oil, say Ginette and Daniel Mathurin, [French
Original], Radio
Metropole, Jan 28, 2008
Scientists and Ginette Daniel Mathurin indicate that under Haitian soil
is rich in oil and fuel fossible have already been listed by foreign
specialists and Haiti. "We have identified 20 sites Oil, 'Daniel
Mathurin stating that 5 of them are considered of great importance by
specialists and politicians.
The Central Plateau, including the region of Thomonde, the plain of
the cul-de-sac and the bay of Port-au-Prince are full of hydrocarbons,
"he said adding that the oil reserves of Haiti are more important
than those of Venezuela . "An Olympic pool compared to a glass
of water that is the comparison to illustrate the importance of oil
Haitian compared with those of Venezuela," he explains.
Venezuela is one of the world's largest producers of oil.
Daniel Mathurin investigations revealed that several previous governments
have made it possible to verify the existence of these important oilfields.
He recalls that a document of the Fanmi Lavalas party to power in 2004,
had specified the numerous sites of oil in Haiti.
According to Daniel and Ginette Mathurin, the Lake District, with cities
like Thomazeau and Cornillon, contains important oilfields.
Asked about the non-operation of those sites, Ginette Mathurin said
that these deposits are declared strategic reserves of the United States
of America. While citing his imcompréhension of such a situation,
remember that the Caribbean is seen as the back yard of the United States.
But Daniel Mathurin And Ginette indicate that the American government
had in 2005 authorized the use of strategic reserves of the United States.
The door should be used by politicians to launch Haitian négiciations
with American companies in the context of the exploitation of these
deposits adds Daniel Mathurin.
The specialists contend that the government of Jean Claude Duvalier
had verified the existence of a major oil field in the Bay of Port-au-Prince
shortly before his downfall.
In addition, Daniel and Ginette Mathurin reveal that the Uranium 238
and 235 and the deposit zyconium exist in several regions including
in Jacmel. The uranium is used in nuclear reactors for the production
of electric energy.
***********************
Haïti
regorge de pétrole affirment Daniel et Ginette Mathurin,
[English Translation],
Radio
Metropole, Jan 28, 2008
Les scientifiques Daniel et Ginette Mathurin indiquent que le sous sol
haïtien est riche en hydrocarbures et en combustibles fossible
qui ont été répertoriés par des spécialistes
étrangers et haïtiens. " Nous avons relevé 20
sites pétrolifères", lance Daniel Mathurin précisant
que 5 d’entre eux sont jugés de grande importance par les
spécialistes et les politiques.
Le Plateau central, notamment la région de Thomonde, la plaine
du cul-de-sac et la baie de Port-au-Prince regorgent d’hydrocarbures,
dit-il ajoutant que les réserves pétrolifères d’Haïti
sont plus importantes que ceux du Vénézuela. " Une
piscine olympique comparée à un verre d’eau voilà
la comparaison pour montrer l’importance des gisements de pétrole
haïtien comparés à ceux du Vénézuela",
explique t-il.
Le Vénézuéla est l’un des plus grands producteurs
mondiaux de pétrole.
Daniel Mathurin révèle que des enquêtes de plusieurs
gouvernements antérieurs ont permis de vérifier l’existence
de ces importants gisements de pétrole. Il rapelle qu’un
document du parti Fanmi Lavalas au pouvoir en 2004, avait précisé
les nombreux sites d’hydrocarbures en Haiti.
Selon Daniel et Ginette Mathurin, la région des lacs, avec des
villes comme Thomazeau et Cornillon, renferme d’importants gisements
de pétrole.
Interrogée sur la non exploitation de ces sites, Ginette Mathurin
a précisé que ces gisements sont déclarés
réserves stratégiques des Etats Unis d’Amérique.
Tout en faisant état de son imcompréhension d’une
telle situation, elle rapelle que la caraïbe est considérée
comme l’arriere cour des Etats Unis.
Cependant Daniel Et Ginette Mathurin indiquent que le gouvernement américain
avait en 2005 autorisé l’exploitation des réserves
stratégiques des Etats Unis. Cette porte doit être utilisée
par les politiques haïtiens pour lancer des négiciations
avec des compagnies américaines dans la perspective de l’exploitation
de ces gisements ajoute Daniel Mathurin
Les spécialistes soutiennent que le gouvenement de Jean Claude
Duvalier avait vérifié l’existence d’un important
gisement de pétrole dans la baie de Port-au-Prince peu de temps
avant sa chute.
De plus, Daniel et Ginette Mathurin révèlent que l’Uranium
238 et 235 et le zyconium existent en gisement dans plusieurs régions
notamment à Jacmel. L’Uranium est utilisé dans les
réacteurs nucléaires pour la production d’energie
électrique.
***********************
Further research will be necessary to
confirm the existence of oil in Haiti, (English translation of
"Des recherches
supplémentaires seraient necéssaires pour confirmer l’existence
de pétrole en Haïti."
The director of the bureau of mines, Dieusel Anglade, believes that
further research should be conducted to confirm the presence of oil
sites in Haiti.
Speaking at the "Guest of the day" Radio Metropole, Mr. Anglade
revealed that the drilling carried out by 11 foreign companies have
made it possible to detect indications of the presence of hydrocarbon
deposits. Citing documents from the office of mines, Dieusel Anglade
said that the drilling has been made by three different companies in
the areas of the Plain of the Cul-de-Sac, Artibonite, Central Plateau
and the Gulf of Gonave.
The wells were carried out between 1968 and 1977 by European carriers.
Apart from these 11 wells there has been no other wells says Anglade
who regrets that the drilling did not exceed 2400 metres. He stressed
that we can really assess a deposit from 3000 metres deep, and hopes
that other companies boost research in this area.
According to the director of the bureau of mines other regions should
also be the subject of further research. He cited among other things
the peninsula North West, the southern peninsula and Jordan. "We
have a favorable geographical context," argues Mr. Anglade who
does not know if oil is exxiste quantity sufisante to be exploited.
But Mr. Anglade acknowledges that the price of oil has grown exponentially
in recent years and requires that the companies had suspended investment
in 1968 would not have been here today.
The Bureau of Mines has already received applications for permits to
study admits Mr. Anglade explaining that gives priorité to these
files.
***********************
Des recherches
supplémentaires seraient necéssaires pour confirmer l’existence
de pétrole en Haïti
Le directeur du bureau des mines, Dieusel Anglade, estime que d’autres
recherches doivent être réalisées pour confirmer
la présence de sites pétrolifères en Haiti.
Intervenant à la rubrique " Invité du jour "
de radio Métropole, M. Anglade a révélé
que les 11 forages réalisés par des compagnies étrangères
ont permis de détecter des indices sur la présence de
gisements d’hydrocarbures. Citant des documents du bureau des
mines, Dieusel Anglade a précisé que les forages ont été
réalisés par trois compagnies différentes dans
les régions de Plaine du cul-de-Sac, l’artibonite, Plateau
central et le golfe de la gonave.
Les forages ont été réalisés entre 1968
et 1977 par des compagnies européennes.
A part ces 11 forages il n’y a pas eu d’autres puits insiste
M. Anglade qui regrette que les forages n’ont pas dépassé
2 400 mètres. Il souligne qu’on peut vraiement évaluer
un gisement à partir de 3 000 mètres de profondeur et
souhaite que d’autres compagnies relancent les recherches dans
ce domaine.
Selon le directeur du bureau des mines d’autres régions
devraient egalement être l’objet de recherches approfondies.
Il cite entre autres la presqu’ile du Nord ouest, la presqu’ile
du sud et Jérémie. " Nous avons un contexte géographique
favorable", argue M. Anglade qui ne sait pas si le pétrole
est exxiste en quantité sufisante pour être exploité.
Cependant M. Anglade reconnaît que le prix de l’or noir
a connu une croissance exponentielle ces dernières années
et suppose que les compagnies qui avaient suspendu les investissements
en 1968 ne l’aurait pas fait aujourd’hui.
Le bureau des mines a deja recu des demandes de permis d’étude
avoue M. Anglade expliquant qu’il accorde la pruiorité
à ces dossiers.
Source: Radio Metropole
|
| Majescor
to Acquire Interest in a Strategic Gold-Copper Property in Haiti
by Marketwire,
April 23, 2009
MONTREAL, QUEBEC -- (Marketwire) -- 04/23/09 -- Majescor Resources Inc.
("Majescor" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE: MJX)
is pleased to report that it has signed an agreement (the "Agreement")
with SIMACT Alliance Copper Gold Inc. ("SIMACT") and its principal
shareholders (the "Principals") whereby the Company will acquire
a 10% interest in SIMACT, as well an option to acquire the remaining
90% interest. SIMACT, through its 66.4%-owned Haitian affiliate mining
company, Societe Miniere du Nord-Est S.A. ("SOMINE"), controls
a property with both gold and copper potential, (the "SOMINE Property")
located in the North-East mineral district of Haiti. The SOMINE Property
lies within a highly prospective volcanic arc environment, host to numerous
epithermal gold and porphyry copper occurrences in Haiti, as well as
the World-Class Pueblo Viejo gold deposit in the adjacent Dominican
Republic. The property holds the historical Blondin and Douvray copper-gold
prospects; the historical Faille-B gold prospect; along with a number
of recently-discovered copper-gold showings.
Marc-Andre Bernier, President and CEO of the Company states: "Majescor
has an established, ten-year long tradition of exploring emerging mineral
districts. The deal with SIMACT and its Principals offers a new and
unique opportunity for the Company to participate in the evaluation
and development of a key property located in the prospective Massif-du-Nord
volcanic complex of north-east Haiti.
We believe that the time is right to
invest in Haiti and in projects with gold and copper potential. Gold
has remained a steady commodity in this economic downturn while copper
has just hit a 6-month high. Not only does the SOMINE Property contain
three historical copper and gold occurrences, the mineral rights of
which are secured under a mining convention with the State, but it is
surrounded by ground recently acquired by Eurasian Minerals Inc. and
partner Newmont Ventures Ltd. Majescor intends to fast-track the development
of the SOMINE Property through further quantification of the three known
prospects and the drill testing of new geological targets and ground
showings."
SIMACT and SOMINE
SIMACT is a Montreal-based private company headed by a group of Canadian
financiers and Haitian-American developers. The alliance aims to promote
sustainable mineral development initiatives in Haiti by creating synergies
between the Canadian financial and mining communities and the North
American Haitian Diaspora.
SIMACT holds title to 66.4 % of all the issued and outstanding shares
of SOMINE, a company incorporated under the laws of the Republic of
Haiti. SOMINE in turn, has 100% title to the SOMINE Property. SOMINE's
mineral rights and obligations have been assigned under a mining convention
executed with the State of Haiti on May, 5, 2005 (the "Mining Convention"),
which covers a 50 km2 Research Permit and is valid until March 9, 2010,
and under a Prospecting Permit awarded in 2006. The Prospecting Permit,
which encompasses four areas lying to the East, South and Southeast
of the permit subject to the Mining Convention, expired in December
2008. SOMINE has requested the conversion of the Prospecting Permit
into a Research Permit and has filed all technical and source documents
in support of its application with the Haitian Bureau of Mines and Energy.
The Research Permit is pending.
The Principals of SIMACT own approximately 80% of SIMACT's issued and
outstanding common shares.
Terms of the Agreement
The terms of the Agreement with SIMACT and the Principals can be summarized
as follows:
(i) Majescor will acquire from the shareholders of SIMACT 10% of all
the issued and outstanding common shares of SIMACT, the whole in consideration
of the issuance to all SIMACT shareholders, on a proportionate basis,
of 2,000,000 treasury common shares of Majescor, This initial acquisition
by Majescor is subject to, among other things: (1) a satisfactory technical
and legal due diligence on SIMACT, SOMINE and the SOMINE Property, (2)
all SIMACT shareholders accepting to be bound by the terms of the Agreement
and (3), all legal and regulatory approvals.
(ii) Concurrently with the initial acquisition by Majescor, SIMACT and
the Principals have agreed to grant Majescor an option ("the Option"),
the whole in consideration of an option payment of $200,000 to SIMACT
(of which a non-refundable payment of $25,000 has been paid by Majescor
on the date of execution of the Agreement) and the carrying out by Majescor
of $600,000 in exploration work and other related expenses on the SOMINE
Property within 8 months following the execution of this Agreement,
to purchase all the remaining SIMACT shares and other securities of
SIMACT, if any, held by the current SIMACT shareholders, in consideration
for the issuance of 10,000,000 treasury common shares of Majescor to
be issued to all current SIMACT shareholders on a proportionate basis.
This Option, which is also subject to complete and satisfactory due
diligence, may be exercised by Majescor within 12 months from the date
hereof. The Company is not obliged to exercise the Option, nor will
it have any right to exercise the Option prior to incurring the required
work expenses referred to above.
SIMACT is the operator of the SOMINE Property. The 2009 exploration
program for the property, which has been approved by Majescor, calls
for core drilling of one or more of the historical prospects, as well
as of a number of the recently outlined geological targets and surface
gold and copper showings. Majescor may pay to SIMACT any balance of
the $600,000 in work expenditures not yet incurred in lieu of incurring
such work expenditures. As the Option may constitute a Reverse Take
Over within the meaning of the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange
(the "Exchange"), the Company will need to obtain all required
regulatory and shareholder approvals before exercising the Option.
(iii) Furthermore, in the event that within a period of two years following
the exercise of the Option, a NI 43-101 technical report (the "Report")
prepared by an independent and accredited reputable engineering or geological
consulting firm determines indicated mineral resources on the SOMINE
Property to be between 1,000,000 and 2,000,000 ounces of gold, or its
equivalent in copper, Majescor shall, within 30 days of the report,
issue an additional 3,000,000 common treasury shares to current SIMACT
shareholders. In the event that the indicated mineral resources on the
SOMINE Property are determined by the Report to be equal to or greater
than 2,000,000 ounces of gold or its equivalent in copper, Majescor
shall, within 30 days of the Report and in addition to the 3,000,000
common shares mentioned hereinabove, issue another 3,000,000 common
treasury shares to current SIMACT shareholders. These additional issuances
of common shares will also be subject to all required corporate and
regulatory approvals.
The Agreement with SIMACT has been approved by all the directors of
Majescor, with the exception of Andre Audet, Chairman of Majescor, who
declared his interest as a shareholder and director of SIMACT and as
such did not participate in the vote.
Regional Geology and Historical Prospects
The SOMINE Property area corresponds to a volcanic arc of Meso-Cenozoic
Age that can be traced from Central Cuba through the Dominican Republic
and forms part of the NW-trending Mountains of the Massif-du-Nord group.
This group is composed mainly of volcanic tuffs and lavas from the volcanic
belt, ranging in composition from felsic, through intermediate, to mafic
and ultramafic rocks. The belt is composed of numerous lenticular bodies
of lava and pyroclastic material of felsic composition, varying from
dacite to rhyolite, embedded in a thick series of predominantly mafic
volcanoclastic rocks, mainly andesite with lesser amounts of basalts,
with numerous intercalations of diverse sedimentary rocks, like radiolarian
cherts, carbonate rocks, and tuffs.
Copper and gold are the two main ore types in the area. Copper is usually
found associated with the porphyritic facies, the microtonalitic apophyses,
and the silicified zones, filling fissures and fractures, as well as
disseminated. Within the quartz vein systems, the copper is contained
in the chalcopyrite, while the gold appears both as native gold and
as a very fine disseminated gold in the sulphide zone. It can also form
spectacular concentrations on the oxidised cap. The native gold is usually
found associated with chlorite, as well as in grains of pyrite and chalcopyrite.
A second generation of gold is usually found associated to the quartz
and the chlorite. The gold content is extremely variable.
The SOMINE Property holds the historical Blondin and Douvray copper-gold
prospects; the historical Faille-B gold prospect, as well as a number
of recently-outlined geochemical and geophysical targets and surface
gold-base metal showings that have not yet been drill tested. The Blondin,
Douvray and Faille-B prospects have been known since the 1970's and
1980's when they were investigated in some detail by foreign bilateral
and multilateral agencies, in particular the United Nations Development
Program ("UNDP"), the German Bundesanstalt fur Geowissenschaften
und Rohstoffe ("BGR") and the French Bureau de Recherches
Geologiques et Miniere ("BRGM"). A series of geochemical and
geophysical surveys were carried out on the SOMINE Property. Drilling,
trenching, mapping and soil sampling were also performed, as well as
metallurgical studies. More recently (1995-2006), the three
prospects were investigated by a consortium of Canadian junior mining
companies.
The Douvray, Blondin and Faille-B prospects were reviewed by R. Valls
of Valls Geoconsultant in 2004 as part of a NI 43-101 qualifying report
written by on behalf of Ste-Genevieve Resources Ltd. (acquired by Ascendant
Copper Corp., now Copper Mesa Mining Corp.). This report, entitled "Technical
Report of the Geology and Mineral Resources of the Douvray - Blondin
- Faille B Copper and Gold Prospects in Haiti" is available at
www.SEDAR.com.
At Douvray, the German BGR completed a total of 38 diamond drill holes
in 1980. An additional 22 holes were drilled at Douvray in the late
1990s. For Blondin, the bulk of the exploration work appears to have
been carried out in the 1970's by the UNDP (8 drill holes totalling
1,500 m). Results from a number of grab samples collected by R. Valls
returned values ranging from 1.19 to 8.14% Cu for Douvray and from 1.55
to 10.42% Cu for Blondin.
The Faille-B gold prospect was investigated under the UNDP's Revolving
Fund for Natural Resources Exploration (1982-1987) with 31 holes drilled
over a strike-length of 1.8 km. In the course of a trenching campaign
carried out in 2007 by SIMACT on the East and West extensions of the
Faille-B prospect, significant values were encountered locally, one
vein averaging 42.7 g/t Au over 6 m, including values of 107.5 g/t Au
over one meter, 61.4 g/t Au over one meter and 41.2 g/t Au over one
meter (see Diagnos Inc press release, October 30, 2007). The Faille-B
prospect coincides with a major NW-trending structural lineament which
extends through to the Blondin copper prospect.
Field work carried-out by SIMACT elsewhere on the SOMINE property in
2007 focussed on new geological base metals targets. Five grab samples
on one of the targets returned copper values of 7.46, 6.21, 9.51, 0.10
and 6.69% Cu respectively. The target represents an outcrop which is
highly mineralised over some 20 meters in length and one meter thickness
(see Diagnos Inc. press release dated February 29, 2008).
Majescor is a junior explorer focusing on emerging mineral districts.
Majescor's project portfolio includes two uranium exploration projects
in Quebec and one in the Baker Lake basin in Nunavut. The Quebec properties
include Mistassini (100%-owned; under option to Strateco Resources Inc.)
and Lac Laparre (100%-owned; under option to Santoy Resources Inc.).
In Nunavut, the Company holds 100% mineral rights to the Baker Lake
uranium property. In addition to uranium, Majescor owns 100% mineral
rights to four gold and base metal properties in Madagascar (under option
to Sunridge Gold Corp.), as well as 100% mineral rights to the Mirabelli
gold and base metal property in Quebec.
This press release was approved by Jacques Letendre, P.Geo, Director
of Majescor, acting as the "Qualified Person" for the Company
under National Instrument 43-101.
To find out more about Majescor Resources Inc. (TSX VENTURE: MJX), please
visit our website at www.majescor.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This News Release may contain or refer to "forward-looking statements"
which reflect Management's expectations regarding the Company's future
growth, results of operations, performance and business prospects and
opportunities. These statements reflect Management's current beliefs
at the time of this news release and are based on information currently
available to Management. All statements other than statements of historical
fact, included in this release, including, without limitation, statements
regarding potential mineralization and reserves, exploration results,
and future plans and objectives of Majescor Resources inc., are forward-looking
statements that involve various risks and uncertainties. There can be
no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate and actual
results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated
in such statements. Important factors that could cause actual results
to differ materially from Management's expectations are exploration
risks detailed herein and from time to time in the filings made by the
Company with securities regulators.
Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as
that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts
responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Contacts:
Majescor Resources Inc.
Marc-Andre Bernier
President & CEO
613-241-5333
613-241-8632 (FAX)
marc-andre@majescor.com
Majescor Resources Inc.
Andre Audet
Chairman
613-241-5333
613-241-8632 (FAX)
andre@majescor.com
www.majescor.com
© 2008 SYS-CON Media Inc. |
|
***********************
Pétrole en Haiti,
Par Dr. Georges Michel, webzinemaker.com
Depuis des temps immémoriaux, ce n'est un secret pour personne
que dans le sous-sol des deux états qui se partagent l'Ile d'Haïti
et dans les eaux avoisinantes, il existe d'importants dépôts
d'hydrocarbures encore inexploités, on ne sait pourquoi. Déjà
au début du XXème siècle , la carte physique et
politique de l'Ile d'Haïti, dressée en 1908 par Messieurs
Alexandre Poujol et Henry Thomasset, signalait un important gisement
de pétrole en Haïti au voisinage de source du Rio Todo El
Mondo, Affluent de droite du fleuve Artibonite, plus connu aujourd'hui
sous le nom de Rivière de Thomonde. (le mot Thomonde viendrait-il
de Todo El Mondo?) le gisement du pétrole en question se trouve
à cheval sur la limite entre les arrondissements de Hinche et
de Mirebalais, dans une zone montagneuse, située au pied de la
chaîne des Montagnes Noires, en direction plein ouest de Thomonde.
La même carte signale un gisement de pétrole dans la plaine
dominicaine d'Azua, à une faible distance au nord de la République
Dominicaine de la ville d'Azua. D'après les informations dont
nous disposons, ce dernier gisement en République Dominicaine
avait été mis effectivement en exploitation dans la première
moitié de ce siècle il avait produit jusqu'á 60.000
barils de pétrole par jour, puis avait été fermé,
ayant été jugé à l'époque "insuffisamment
rentable". Toujours pour rester en République Dominicaine,
on annonçait qu'en 1982 il avait été découvert
en face de cette plaine d'Azua, un immense gisement de pétrole
off-shore au large de Barahona, mais que ce gisement avait été
laissé inexploité.
Ceux qui ont fait le voyage Port-au-Prince/Santo-Domingo peuvent témoigner
que la plaine d'Azua et son littoral ressemble à s'y méprendre
à la zone de Vieux-Bourg d'Aquin et du littoral correspondant.
Il ya des chances raisonnables qu'il y ait donc des dépots d'hydrocarbures
dans la région haïtienne homologue, d'autant que nous sommes
laissé dire que dans la plaine des Cayes il y avait des indices
géologiques de présence de pétrole, de même
que dans la baie des Cayes, entre les Cayes et l'Ile-à-Vache.
Nous nous baignions en 1975 à Cayes-à-l'Eau, quant nous
eûmes les pieds souillés par une sorte d'huile noirâtre
qui suintait du fond marin. Un pêcheur du lieu nous avait expliqué
que c'était chose courante en cet endroit.
Il en fait rapport d'un phénomène similaire dans d'autres
régions du pays. Paraît-il en Plaine de Léogane
et au pied du Morne-à-Cabrit. On a signalé également
la présence de schistes bitumineux dans le Département
de la Grand-Anse.
Toujours est-il qu'il existe de nombreux endroits dans notre île
(Haïti et République Domincaine) qui présentent tous
les critères géoligiques de présence d'hydrocarbures.
En Haïti, citons la plaine des Cayes, la plaine de Léogane,
la plaine du Cul-de-Sac, la plaine des Gonaïves et la Savane désolée,
la Plaine du Nord. L'Ile de la Gonâve et les littéraux
correspondants pour les gisements off-shore. Dans cette liste, il ne
faut pas oublier le grand bassin sédimentaire haïtien du
Plateau Central.
Dans le courant des années 50, la Compagnie Knappen-Tippen-Abbet
(surnommée par les populations locales (Compagnie Ti-pain à
beurre) avait effectué des forages à la Gonâve,
en plaine de Cul-de-Sac, au Plateau-Central et dans la région
des Gonaïves. Tous ces forages s'étaient avérés
extrêmement prometteurs et les résultats avaient été
au-delà des espérances. Cependant, les grosses multinationales
pétrolières, dont certaines opéraient en Haïti,
avaient fait pression pour que les gisements découverts ne fussent
pas exploités. Haïti n'était ni l'Arabie Saoudite
ni le Koweit. A une époque où le baril de pétrole
brut se vendait un peu plus d'un dollar, et que le Golfe Persique en
fournissait à gogo, il n'y avait aucune raison pour ces Compagnies
de mettre en exploitation des gisements beaucoup moins rentables, alors
que l'ARAMCO faisait la pluie et le beau temps en Arabie, à vil
prix, pillant même les précieuses ressources pétrolières
de ce royaume.
On garderait les gisements haïtiens ainsi que d'autres gisements
en réserve pour le XXIème quand la pactole moyen-oriental
se serait tari. C'est ce qui arriva!. Les puits de la Knappen-Tippen-Abbet
furent numérotés, soigneusement cadenassés ou scellés
avec du ciment et on les oublia.
Les rapports de cette immense campagne de forage ne furent, semble t-il
jamais communiqués aux Haïtiens. Pensez-vous, on n'allait
jamais remettre à ce ramassis de nègres arriérés
des informations qui leurs permettraient de travailler à leur
libération économique. Ce serait les rendre trop puissants
et donner trop de pouvoir à la petite Haïti.
Les Haïtiens n'avaient qu'a attendre un demi-siècle ou un
siècle pour cela. Cependant, la campagne fructueuse de Knappen-Tibben-Abbet
donna l'occasion à de nombreuses promotions d'écoles haïtiens,
préparant leur certificat d'Etudes Primaires et étudiant
dans le manuel de géographie d'Haïti des Frères de
l'Instruction Chrétienne, d'apprendre que notre sol possédait
des gisements de pétrole, au Plateau Central, et à la
Gonâve. Ce n'était pas tombé dans l'oreille d'un
sourd…
Il est généralement admis dans tous les milieux pétroliers
qu'il existe des gisements d'hydrocarbures dans le sous-sol de l'île
d'Haïti, mais ces milieux ne sont pas pressés de les mettre
en exploitation, tellement les réserves aisement disponibles
et déjà répertoriées sont importantes dans
les grandes régions productrices de pétrole du monde.
On aura toujours le temps de penser à l'île d'Haïti.
On a cependant failli penser à nous lors de la crise du Golfe
quant les gisements Kowetiens, Saoudiens et autres étaient menacés
par Saddam Hussein. Si les cubains n'avaient pas fait de grands efforts
par eux-mêmes pour mettre leur pétrole en exploitation,
personne ne l'aurait fait pour eux à leur place. Si ce n'étaient
pas les efforts des Cubains, le pétrole cubain serait logé
dans les entrailles de la terre, comme l'est toujours le pétrole
haïtien. La balle est dans notre camp…
Si les grandes compagnies ne sont pas intéressées à
s'occuper de nous et de notre pétrole, nous aurions pu demander
à nos voisins cubains de venir nous aider à exploiter
notre pétrole.
Dans leur quête dramatique pour le pétrole, les cubains
ont développé une technologie et un savoir-faire dont
nous pourrions, en échange de leurs services, céder aux
cubains une partie de la production pétrolière nationale
et leur donner une part de bénéfices. Une mission de responsables
gouvernementaux et d'hommes d'affaires haïtiens devrait partir
pour Cuba en ce sens.
La triste affaire de l'embargo international à bien montré
que nous devons nous débrouiller tous seuls, et surtout que nous
n'avons pas à attendre les O.K. du grand Voisin du Nord pour
ce qui touche à nos intérêts vitaux. L'ensemble
du corps social a pu voir et bien se rendre compte de la manière
dont le Grand Voisin du Nord nous a traités et nous traitera
encore à l'avenir. Haïti ne sera sauvée que par les
Haïtiens, et par les Haïtiens seuls, c'est la principale leçon
de l'embargo.
Si notre pétrole avait été disponible, on aurait
pas été forcé de capituler honteusement à
la suite du blocus pétrolier décidé au mépris
du droit international avec leur infâme résolution 841,
par les grandes puissances portant désormais le nom pompeux et
ridicule de " communauté internationale".
Nos responsables, nos grands brasseurs d'affaires, nos économistes
ultra-libéraux, nos grands contrebandiers, nos Chicagos-Boys
anti-nationaux et autres ruffians, auraient préféré
importé de l'air, plutôt que de mettre en exploitation
les ressources d'Haïti. Avec un zèle qu'il est difficile
à comprendre, ils obéissent au doigt et à l'oeil
aux injonctions du FMI et de la Banque Mondiale, et se mettent avec
ces deux organismes pour détruire l'économie haïtienne,
et en particulier notre précieuse agriculture.
Néanmoins, ils se retrouvent bien attrapés et nous avec,
quand pour l'impérialisme, pour satisfaire ses macabres desseins,
décide d'imposer un embargo, le dernier embargo (il y en aura
peut-être d'autres à l'avenir, qui sait?) a prouvé
qu'il faut accéler l'intégration économique avec
la République Dominicaine.
Les deux Républiques devraient s'engager par traité à
se fournir mutuellement du pétrole quelques que soient les décisions
d'une tierce partie. La construction d'un oléoduc transinsulaire,
Barahona-Port-au-Prince, pourrait être un élément
de cette intégration pétrolière entre les deux
pays qui se partagent l'île.
En attendant de pouvoir consommer notre pétrole dont les excédents
fournissaient aussi de précieuses devises dont nous avons besoin,
il faut augmenter les capacités de stockage de produits pétroliers
sur le territoire de la République, et de constituer d'importants
réserves stratégiques. L'embargo pétrolier de 1991
est par ailleurs un argument de poids pour la reconstruction de nos
chemins de fer.
Dr Georges Michel
27 mars 2004
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Little
Girl 
