ON November 1, 2014, Jamaica, yet again, began the sporadic search for oil and gas, carrying on a stubborn dream of many, the latest of whom was Dr Raymond Wright, past chairman of the Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica (PCJ).

Dr Wright was able to convince Energy Minister Phillip Paulwell that there is oil and gas in commercial quantities on or offshore Jamaica and it is worth every energy spent in exploring for the precious commodity.

The state-run PCJ has signed what is called a Production Sharing Agreement with Tullow Jamaica Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tullow Oil plc, the leading independent oil and gas exploration outfit in the United Kingdom, to search for oil.

Tullow is bankrolling the exploration but PCJ has contributed its considerable archive covering the several campaigns stretching from the 1950s as data — seismic and geological — on which the UK firm is building in this latest effort.

There were cynical chuckles in some quarters when PCJ announced earlier this month that a new search was being undertaken, apparently because of the feeling that this is just another wasted effort that could raise expectations once again, only to have them dashed.

We don’t share that view. As the PCJ chairman, Christopher Cargill maintains, Jamaica has a duty to its people to exhaust every effort to determine if we have oil and gas, and then to go into production with what would be a game-changer for the country.

Dr Wright, who pushed hard in the mid-2000s for the previous exploration, has bequeathed his vision and enthusiasm to the current chairman, and key executives like Mr Winston Watson, the group general manager, and Mr Brian Richardson, the manager, oil and gas.

They have bought fully into the belief that Jamaica has oil and gas in commercial quantities, based on the hydrocarbon indications from over almost 50 years. This is even while making a major effort to manage expectations.

The PCJ team also draws optimism from the fact that a company such as Tullow, with its impressive track record, is willing to spend its money to explore here. In the last seven years, Tullow has opened five new oil basins in countries which did not previously produce oil and gas.

Cargill and his team are seized with the vision of an oil-producing Jamaica which can pay its bill, reduce energy costs and lay the basis for the long-sought-after prosperity.

Their mission is taking on more urgency as fears increase that the PetroCaribe oil deal is in danger because of the serious fall-off in the Venezuelan economy. One hardly wants to contemplate the additional hardship that awaits Jamaica if that deal is scuttled.

For all the obvious reasons, we hope that Tullow and PCJ succeed.