A Clear Path for The Bahamas: Stand Up to Oil and Protect Its Ocean Future

June 8, 2026

For years, Waterkeeper Alliance has worked alongside Waterkeepers Bahamas and the Bahamas Reef Environment Educational Foundation through the Our Islands Our Future (OIOF) campaign. Together, we oppose offshore oil drilling in The Bahamas and advocate for a future rooted in healthy oceans, thriving fisheries, resilient communities, and clean energy.

The past year has brought both meaningful advocacy wins and new threats from the oil and gas exploration company, Challenger Energy Group (CEG). In 2025, after unsuccessful commercial drilling results and OIOF’s confirmation that the Bahamian government was not required to renew its drilling licenses, CEG threatened legal action against the government.

The threat reflects a familiar pattern: fossil fuel companies using legal and financial pressure to advance offshore drilling in climate-vulnerable nations. It also underscores why community opposition is so important.

A Foreign Fossil Fuel Company Is Pressuring The Bahamas
CEG’s latest threats are part of its long and troubled history in The Bahamas. Previously known as the Bahamas Petroleum Company, CEG conducted exploratory drilling near Andros Island in 2021, generating widespread concern among environmental organizations, scientists, and local communities about the potential impacts on marine ecosystems, tourism, and fisheries.

The situation recently became even more concerning when Sintana Energy, a Canadian-based oil and gas company, acquired CEG. The acquisition highlights a troubling reality: the future of offshore oil exploration is increasingly being shaped by foreign fossil fuel interests whose primary obligation is to shareholders, not Bahamian communities, livelihoods, or ecosystems. Sinatana’s investment in oil drilling infrastructure seemingly contradicts the Canadian government’s commitment to net-zero emissions by 2050, as ratified in the 2021 Canadian Net-Zero Emissions Accountability Act. 

At the same time, reports indicate that significant questions remain regarding unpaid exploration fees associated with the company’s activities. Yet despite years of failed efforts to advance offshore drilling, these companies continue to seek access to Bahamian waters while demanding concessions from the government.

The Bahamas should not be pressured into accepting greater environmental and economic risks to satisfy fossil fuel companies’ demands.

The Bahamas’ Greatest Asset Is Its Ocean
Unlike oil-producing nations that have built their economies around fossil fuel extraction, The Bahamas derives its prosperity from something far more valuable and sustainable: its extraordinary marine environment.

Tourism and fisheries support livelihoods across the archipelago and depend on healthy coral reefs, clean waters, mangrove ecosystems, and thriving marine biodiversity. An oil spill or industrial accident would not only damage these ecosystems but could also devastate local economies and undermine The Bahamas’ international reputation as one of the world’s premier ocean destinations.

Meanwhile, The Bahamas is already experiencing the impacts of climate change. Rising sea levels, stronger hurricanes, coral bleaching, and coastal erosion threaten communities throughout the country. Expanding offshore oil and gas development would only deepen the climate crisis that disproportionately affects small island nations.

For a country on the front lines of climate change, investing in more fossil fuel extraction is a dangerous contradiction.

Bahamians Have Made Their Views Clear
Public opinion in The Bahamas has consistently demonstrated strong opposition to offshore oil drilling. An independent survey commissioned by OIOF in 2024 found that 86 percent of respondents support legislative action to prevent future fossil fuel exploration, while 74 percent support a transition to clean energy.

Over the past year, OIOF has continued to create spaces for informed public discussion on these issues. The coalition recently convened a roundtable that brought together Bahamian leaders, scientists, environmental experts, and community advocates to examine the risks of offshore oil drilling and explore sustainable alternatives for the country’s future.

The conclusions echoed concerns that have been raised for years: the environmental and economic risks associated with offshore drilling far outweigh any speculative benefits. These concerns are increasingly shaping the country’s political conversation.

A New Election Brings New Opportunities for Leadership
This year also marked an important moment in Bahamian democracy.

Ahead of the recent election, the OIOF coalition distributed a candidate questionnaire to every candidate seeking office, asking them to share their positions on sustainability, climate resilience, and oil drilling. The initiative was designed to ensure that voters had access to information about where candidates stood on issues that will shape the country’s long-term prosperity.

The election resulted in the re-election of Prime Minister Philip Davis, whose government has previously positioned itself as a leader on climate action and ocean protection.

Prime Minister Davis has spoken about the threats that climate change poses to The Bahamas and has joined the global call for a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty. As his new term begins, there is an opportunity to reaffirm those commitments and demonstrate that protecting Bahamian communities and ecosystems remains a national priority.

The decisions his government makes regarding offshore oil development will be an important test of that leadership.

Making Escazú Real in The Bahamas
The conversation about offshore drilling is also part of a broader discussion about environmental rights, transparency, and public participation.

Earlier this year, The Bahamas hosted the Fourth Conference of the Parties (COP4) to the Escazú Agreement, the landmark regional treaty that guarantees access to environmental information, public participation in environmental decision-making, and access to justice in environmental matters.

During the conference, Bahamian environmental organizations, community groups, and civil society leaders released a powerful joint statement entitled “Making Escazú Real.” The statement welcomed The Bahamas’ accession to the treaty while calling on the government to move beyond commitments on paper and fully implement its provisions.

The groups highlighted ongoing concerns about limited public access to environmental information, opaque development processes, barriers to meaningful public participation, and insufficient environmental accountability. They called for Environmental Impact Assessments, Environmental Management Plans, and compliance reports to be publicly available before approvals are granted, stronger safeguards against conflicts of interest in environmental review processes, and greater opportunities for communities to participate in decisions that affect their future.

These principles are directly relevant to offshore oil and gas development.

For years, Bahamian communities and environmental advocates have raised concerns about the transparency of oil exploration proposals and whether affected communities have been meaningfully consulted before major decisions are made. Implementing the Escazú Agreement would help ensure that future environmental decisions are guided by transparency, accountability, and public participation. As the organizations behind the statement noted, “the world is watching.”

The Choice Is Clear
The dispute surrounding CEG, now Sintana Energy, is about more than a single company or a single exploration license. It is a test of whether a climate-vulnerable island nation will be allowed to chart its own future in the face of pressure from powerful fossil fuel interests.

From the growing public opposition to offshore drilling, to the work of the Our Islands Our Future coalition, to the calls from Bahamian civil society to fully implement the Escazú Agreement, it is clear that Bahamians want a future built on healthy oceans, transparent governance, climate resilience, and sustainable development. This call is echoed by communities around the world on the frontlines of the climate crisis. 

Waterkeeper Alliance stands with our partners in The Bahamas in calling on the government to reject efforts to expand offshore oil development, uphold its climate commitments, and protect the marine ecosystems that sustain the country’s economy, culture, and way of life.

The Bahamas’ greatest wealth lies not beneath the ocean floor, but in the ocean itself.