§ 13. Mr. C. S. Taylorasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies how many applications have been received to prospect for oil in the Bahamas; and by whom these applications were made.
§ Mr. George HallAs the reply is long and contains figures I will, with the hon. Member's permission, circulate it in the Official Report.
§ Following is the statement:
§ Applications for oil exploration licence in the Bahamas have been received from 1303 nine companies, some of which have applied for more than one area. The areas applied for include the waters surrounding the Bahamas.
§ The following is a list of the applications, indicating the areas so far allocated to each applicant. Under the law, application must be made by a locally registered company and the name of the parent company is, therefore, shown in brackets where appropriate.
| Square Miles | |
| 1. Anglo-Bahamian Petroleum Company Ltd. (Anglo-Iranian Oil Company.) | 12,925 |
| 2. Standard Oil (Bahamas) Ltd. (Standard Oil Company of New Jersey) | 8,474 |
| 3. Bahamas Oil Company Ltd. (Superior Oil Co. of California) | 8,996 |
| 4. British Bahamian Oil Development Co. Ltd. (Central Mining and In-vestment Corporation) | 6,434 |
| 5. Bahamas Oil Exploration Company Ltd. (Gulk Exploration Co.) | 3676 |
| 6. Shell Overseas Exploration Co. Ltd. (Anglo-Saxon Petroleum Company) | 5,392 |
| 7. Nassau Oil Mining Company Limited (a local company) | 1,502 |
| 8. Bahamas Mining Company Limited. Application still under consideration | — |
| 9. Texas Petroleum Co. Ltd. Application still under consideration | — |