Fellow Citizens, I speak with you today on a matter of national importance, one that concerns our natural resources, our patrimony, and the duty of your government to act, at all times, in your best interest.

It is a matter that every citizen of Grenada, Carriacou, and Petite Martinique deserves to understand fully, and in plain terms. So today, I want to speak with you plainly. When you elected this government, you voted for change, for transformation that can be felt, and for a country built on fairness, transparency and accountability. This statement is about honouring that mandate.

The promise, and the reality

In 2008, our nation granted a company known as the Global Petroleum Group a licence over 11 offshore blocks to explore our waters for oil and gas. 5 years later, in 2013, GPG was granted a development licence and signed a Production Sharing Agreement over 4 of those blocks, which provided legal permission and guidelines to bring that oil and gas out of the ground and share the proceeds with our nation.

Grenadians were told that beneath our waters lay the foundation of a new and prosperous era: that oil and gas would bring jobs, revenue, and a better life for our families.

Fellow Citizens, that was 18 years ago. And so now we ask ourselves: where is the production?  Where are the jobs?  Where is the revenue that was promised to our people?The answer is that, after 18 years, there is no production. There are no sustainable jobs from oil and gas operations. And there is no revenue flowing to the people of this country.

What we found

When this government assumed office in 2022, we knew there were concerns about this arrangement. Independent legal and industry experts cautioned against it as far back as 2007, and again in 2012. Those cautions went unheeded.

We did what responsibility demands. We sought the records. We sought development plans. We examined carefully whether GPG had lived up to the obligations it agreed to.

What we found was deeply troubling. We inherited minimal records, and no proper handover of files on Grenada’s obligations in this matter. I described that situation, at the time, as untenable and unacceptable. It remains so.

Upon closer examination, what we found was a company that failed, in several material respects, to meet its obligations to our country. GPG did not complete the minimum work it committed to. GPG did not produce a development plan that met the requirements of the agreements, or the standard the international industry expects. And GPG could not show that it had the funds in hand to carry out the work it kept promising, and by its own account, it was seeking outside partners to help fund it.

GPG has spoken publicly about the scale of its investment in this project and the funds that it has expended. But under the terms of the agreements it signed, GPG was required to report its expenditure to the government every month. It has not done this. Without those reports, this government is not in a position to confirm any figure GPG has put forward, and we will not repeat numbers we cannot verify. A company that will not account for what it says it has spent cannot be trusted with what it proposes to spend next.

We gave every reasonable opportunity

Some will ask: why now? Let me answer directly. We did not act in haste.

In 2022, this government established a technical working group of capable Grenadians, with a clear mandate: to assess what our waters truly hold, and to see that any development of it benefits the people of Grenada. Since 2023, that team has engaged directly with GPG. We requested development plans, and the technical documentation necessary to assess whether this project could ever be delivered for our country.

We extended every reasonable opportunity. Grenada notified GPG, formally, of every breach we found. We gave the company the chance to respond, in writing and in person. GPG did not remedy those breaches.

The decision

And so, fellow Citizens, I wish to tell you directly the decision your government has taken. After 18 years without production, without accountability, and without results, the Government of Grenada has brought these agreements to an end.

Let me be precise about what that means. In April of this year, the government terminated a related 2016 understanding that had reserved seven further offshore blocks for GPG — reserved on the condition that GPG first bring the original project into production.  That condition was never met. Today, the Government has terminated the development licence and the Production Sharing Agreement itself.

I want to be plain with you. I take no satisfaction in this. It is a difficult decision, but a necessary one, and it was not made suddenly.

Grenada waited. Grenada engaged. Grenada reviewed. And now, responsibly, Grenada has acted.

This is not a decision we take lightly. But leadership is not the avoidance of difficult choices; it is the willingness to make them. My duty, and the duty of this government, is to you, to the people of Grenada, Carriacou and Petite Martinique, and not to a company that for almost 2 decades has failed our nation.

Grenada deserves better. And 18 years is long enough.

Answering the doubters

I am aware that this decision will be misrepresented. Some will say that Grenada has become unwelcoming to investment. The opposite is true.

We are a nation that believes in the sanctity of contracts. We honour what we sign. But that same principle carries a duty: to act firmly and lawfully when a company fails to honour what it signed and stands in the way of this country’s development. That is what our technical working group exists to do: to protect Grenada’s interests, and to build the environment that credible investors are looking for. We are not closing the door to investment. We are opening it to investment built on transparency, accountability, mutual trust and on genuine benefit for our people.

In the days ahead, you may hear other accounts, including those with much to gain. GPG has claimed publicly that it has had no communication with this government. That is not true, and further details on the factual circumstances which the Office of the Attorney General and the Technical Working Group will provide will show it. I ask only that you weigh every account against that record. 18 years. No production. No accountability. The facts speak for themselves.

Fellow Citizens, this is a moment for unity. I call on all Grenadians, wherever they stand, to come together as we move our economy and our country forward.

This call is also extended to the Opposition. Our hydrocarbon ambitions as a nation must transcend our individual political ambitions, and we must act in unison to realise what is perhaps the greatest economic opportunity in the history of our country.

I am mindful that it was a previous administration that entered into this arrangement. But I do not believe that any Grenadian, on either side of this debate, could stand in support of a company that has refused, for 18 years, to be accountable to Grenada and to its people. On this, I believe, we can stand as one.

Looking forward

This Government cannot undo the past. But we can refuse to repeat it. This decision is about closing a chapter of unfulfilled promises, and beginning one founded on transparency, accountability, and respect for the people of this nation. Our natural resources are the patrimony of every Grenadian, of our children, and of generations not yet born. They must be managed openly, honestly, and for the benefit of all our people.

Closing

Grenada deserves better. Grenada deserves accountability. And Grenada deserves to move forward.It is only by coming together, as one people, across our tri-island state, that we will protect what is ours and build the future we have chosen. The wait is over, and now the work begins. That is the task before us, and we intend to deliver.

Grenada deserves better. Better partners, better agreements, better relationships, better results. 18 years is long enough. Today, this chapter ends, and Grenada moves forward.

Thank you.

Office of the Prime Minister

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