Loulé council has refused to allow helicopters working for oil companies Repsol or Partex to use the council’s heliport.
The council said today that it did not want to support in any way the exploration for oil and gas in the Algarve, onshore and offshore, and the oil companies’ request will be denied.
According to the council, the Repsol-Partex consortium requested authorisation to use the Loulé Municipal Heliport between September and October this year as a base for a medical evacuation helicopter in support of a drilling ship to be stationed off the Algarve coast.
The President of Loulé Câmara, Vítor Aleixo, who rather handily happens to be the president of the Regional Council of Algarve Mayors (AMAL), made it crystal clear that "Loulé does not want to be associated with any form of collaboration with this exploration activity."
This rejection is consistent with the unanimous and historic May 19th decision by AMAL members for, "total opposition to oil and gas exploration in the Algarve, on land or in the sea."
Vítor Aleixo is on record as stating that the exploration of fossil fuels off the Algarve coast is "detrimental to the interests of the region and its inhabitants."
The president of the Algarve Tourism Board, Desidério Silva woke from a fitful postprandial slumber to express his support for Vítor Aleixo on his Facebook page.