Santo Domingo.- The presidential hopeful of the minority FNP party on Monday proposed a national policy to urgently explore for oil, citing good reasons and important indications to do so without further delay.

Pelegrín Castillo warned that because of the lack of political will and adequate legislation, the answer to the question “do we have petroleum?” will never be known. “It’s normal to affirm that foreign interests oppose the exploration. I believe that the main problem isn’t abroad, but the lack of commitment with long term projects whose results aren’t immediately seen and which however demand organization, discipline and sustained effort here.”

The deputy for the National District said he’ll reintroduce his bill on oil exploration, which despite approval in the Chamber of Deputies in more than three occasions, has perished in the Senate.

He said the oil search concessions granted in 1989 haven’t met expectations, mostly from the lack of institutional will to enforce their terms and conditions. “In the Constitution we already consigned the objective of land and sea exploration as high national priority, what’s needed now is to approve a law for that field of high risk investment, since no important company will come to conduct serious work without a legal, fiscal and adequate institutional framework.”

The lawmaker added that also needed are improved conditions and an increase of basic information which makes the exploration activity attractive.