Canary Islands victory over oil drilling

Plans to drill for oil and gas off the Canary Islands have been dropped after the energy giant Repsol said insufficient quantities had been found.

It would not be surprising if the bars on the islands were full of rejoicing locals.

Authorities in Madrid, however, will view this as a set-back to their hope of becoming more energy independent. Currently it imports 80% of its energy.

Repsol spent two months exploring two kilometres below the sea bed about 50 kilometres off Lanzarote and Fuerteventura. It reported that it had found only small deposits not worth drilling.

“The exploratory survey confirmed that oil and gas have been generated in the basin, although the deposits found have been saturated with water and the hydrocarbons present are in very thin, non-exploitable layers,” its statement said.

A recent poll showed that 75% of residents were against the controversial drilling plan, but Madrid shunned local opinion.

When the regional authorities vowed to hold a referendum on the issue, Madrid blocked the move by appealing to Spain’s Constitutional Court.

The regional president of the islands greeted Repsol’s failure as a success for the whole Canaries. Locals feared drilling would harm the islands’ wildlife and tourist industry – 10 million people visited the Canaries in 2013.

Greenpeace activists had held protests at sea near the exploration. It welcomed the end of the project but demanded Repsol and the government to conduct an evaluation of its impact on the area’s wildlife.

Prospecting produces sound pollution as well as using chemicals to probe under the sea bed, both of which can harm dolphins and sea turtles, it said in a statement.

The Spanish group Ecologists in Action called for other explorations in the Mediterranean off Spain east coast and the Balearic Islands to be scrapped too.

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