Offshore Drilling Archives - Oceana Europe

Oil drilling in the Canaries – how to stop “petroleum pirates”?

Earlier this week, several European political and social actors met up for the second time in the European Parliament to categorically oppose Repsol’s plans for oil prospects in waters off the Canary Islands (Lanzarote and Fuerteventura), a project authorized by the Spanish government. Oceana doesn’t approve the decision of the Supreme Court that might contribute … Read more

Offshore Drilling: Spain

Projects to search for offshore hydrocarbons have multiplied in recent years. However, the economic interest in exploiting these resources does not run in parallel with the knowledge of their ecological value, as the studies of environmental impact by oil companies show. All of the reports that Oceana has analysed contain serious deficiencies and in some … Read more

Oil companies blind to marine wildlife

Bad news: More and more environmental impact studies by companies involved in hydrocarbon prospecting are coming to the conclusion that biodiversity in prospective areas is so scarce that you might as well be on the surface of the moon instead of a the bottom of the ocean. It doesn’t make sense, and when you take … Read more

Offshore Oil Drilling Stopped in Belize

Yesterday, Belize’s Supreme Court declared offshore drilling contracts issued by the Government of Belize (in 2004 and 2007) null and void, providing a dramatic and potentially definitive setback to The Government of Belize and the  petroleum prospecting companies issued the contracts.The ruling, handed down by Justice Oswell Legall, was in response to a case brought … Read more

EU parlamentarians bend to industry pressure, water down EU offshore oil gas safety law

Oceana is appalled by the vote of the Industry, Transport, Research and Energy (ITRE) Committee of the European Parliament, which adopted this morning its report on the proposal for a Regulation on safety of offshore oil and gas prospection, exploration and production activities. Following intense lobbying from the oil industry and oil-drilling Member States opposed … Read more

Offshore oil and gas: EU Parliament make clear that environment matters

Oceana welcomes the EU Parliament Environment Committee’s adoption of its opinion on the Safety of offshore oil and gas activities file. Their report, which was voted on yesterday in Brussels, introduced several key elements long advocated for by Oceana, such as the involvement of the European Safety and Maritime Agency in oversight of offshore hydrocarbon … Read more