Jamaica cannot afford to drift through this moment with polite language, soft thinking, or the usual habit of celebrating possibility before securing substance.
There is a serious conversation now taking shape around offshore oil exploration in Jamaican waters, particularly in the Walton-Morant licence area south of the island. United Oil & Gas has been advancing seabed surveys and piston coring work, with the company describing the programme as a critical step in testing whether commercially meaningful hydrocarbons may be present. The licence was extended to January 2028, and recent offshore survey work has already moved the discussion beyond idle speculation and into a more consequential national space.
That matters.
It matters because Jamaica is not discussing oil from a position of comfort. We are discussing it at a time when the country is feeling pressure from every direction — economic pressure, infrastructure pressure, social pressure, and climate …
