On 8 September, both the lower and upper houses of Grenada’s Parliament gathered for a rare joint sitting, called to deliver a full public and legislative briefing on the island nation’s ongoing hydrocarbon development initiative, including the government’s controversial recent decision to end a key contract with foreign energy firm Global Petroleum Group (GPG).
The sitting was organized around three core priorities: upholding governmental accountability, boosting public awareness of a matter critical to the country’s long-term economic future, and ensuring full transparency around the management of Grenada’s offshore natural resources. During the session, lawmakers received a detailed progress report from the Grenada Hydrocarbons Technical Working Group (HTWG), the expert body appointed by the Cabinet of Ministers in October 2023 to oversee the programme.
The HTWG was created with a clear national mandate: to conduct independent assessments of Grenada’s offshore oil and gas potential, and if commercially viable reserves are identified, build a strategic roadmap for exploration, extraction, and revenue generation that prioritizes the well-being of current Grenadian citizens and future generations. Today’s presentation, led by HTWG Chairman V Nazim Burke and Lead Consultant Gilbert Yevi, a veteran senior petroleum engineer, covered advances across every key area of the programme, including technical surveys, economic modeling, commercial negotiations, operational planning, and regulatory policy development. Lawmakers also received an overview of the working group’s upcoming activities, designed to position Grenada to capture maximum economic benefit from any future hydrocarbon development.
A central focus of the briefing was a step-by-step breakdown of the events that led the government to terminate GPG’s Production Sharing Agreement and revoke the company’s Development Licence. The background of the agreement stretches back to 2008, when GPG was first granted exploration rights to 11 offshore blocks off Grenada’s coast. In 2013, the company was awarded a formal Development Licence and finalized a Production Sharing Agreement with the government covering four of those blocks, establishing a legal framework for resource development and revenue sharing between the firm and the state.
According to the HTWG’s testimony to Parliament, despite multiple formal attempts by the Grenadian government to secure compliance from the company, GPG never met its required contractual obligations under the terms of the licence and agreement. After a months-long comprehensive review of the case, the government officially published termination notices in the national Gazette on 29 July 2026, formally ending the agreement and revoking the licence.
The presentation laid out the full range of legal, economic, strategic, and operational factors that guided the HTWG’s recommendation and the government’s final action, with presenters repeatedly emphasizing that the decision was rooted in the non-negotiable goal of protecting Grenada’s national interests and upholding the country’s full sovereign rights over its own natural resources.
Following the presentation, the joint sitting opened for a live question-and-answer session, giving lawmakers from both houses the opportunity to engage directly with HTWG members and their technical experts. The interactive session allowed for in-depth discussion of all outstanding questions related to the overall hydrocarbon programme, the details of the GPG contract termination, and the planned next steps for the sector.
Closing the sitting, the government reaffirmed its ongoing commitment to keeping both Parliament and the Grenadian public fully updated as work on the hydrocarbon agenda moves forward. Officials restated that all future progress will be conducted in line with core principles of transparency, responsible resource management, and unwavering alignment with Grenada’s national priorities.