A petition signed by Socialist MPs Carlos Pereira and Luís Moreira Testa requests Hélder Amaral as the President of the committee for the Economy, Public Works and Innovation, urgently to call the president of the National Authority for the Fuel Market, Paulo Carmona, to parliament to explain past actions relating to the Portufuel oila nd gas exploration and extraction contracts, and others.
The formal request will be sent to Carmona (pictured) advising him that the committee members require some enlightenment on “the many doubts that exist about the oil exploration process in Portugal."
The MPs' request comes "following a report by RTP on the oil exploration process in Portugal, where some worrying data was presented."
Among the concerns is the fact that the Algarve onshore contracts have been given to a family company, Portfuel, that lacks experience in the industry and indeed, staff and was only set up to apply for the contracts hence lacks the financial weight needed to take on a wide geological survey for nil return. (Recall dear reader that the government "only wants to find what resources are out there, not to start digging them up.")
The previous Minister for the Environment, Jorge Moreira da Silva, gave the go-ahead to Portfuel, an oil exploration company in name only, owned by Algarve businessman Sousa Cintra and his family, some 10 days before the October 2015 general election,a lthough he disputes this date.
According to RTP, Moreira da Silva authorised two contracts with Portfuel, that cover 300,000 hectares of the Algarve’s land mass, despite the ENMC warning the minister just months earlier that Portfuel was in no way competent to run such an operation.
Moreira da Silva had an uncomfortable afternoon on April 29th in front of a joint committee of the Economy and of the Environment and managed further to irritate the Algarve's environmental organisations, mayors and foreign residents with a performance noted for its arrogance, smugness and high-handed nature.
The former Minister for the Environment tried to shift much of the blame for Portfuel's appointment onto the ENMC so when Paulo Carmona appears in front of the next committee dedicated to finding the truth, Carmona may at last say what made him change his mind completely about Portfuel in just a few short months.
Moreira da Silva said the exploration and extraction contracts all were approved by the Direção-Geral de Energia e Geologia (DGEG,) now the ENMC and that he was merely "upholding the law" when signing them off.
In fact there were concerns noted by DGEG over Portfuel’s suitability as a concession holder as it was a newly constituted company and lacked the obligatory three years track record hence should not be considered a suitable candidate.
One of the problems is that there was only one candidate and the State signed away yet another deal that benefits a commercial partner and disadvanatges the taxpayer - again raising suspicions that someone in government has been paid off or will receive other benefits from the commercial signatory.
Remarkably, expert opinions somehow were altered at Paulo Carmona's Fuel Authority which gave the thumbs up to the Portfuel deal allowing Moreira da Silva to sign the contracts in the dying days of the Passos Coelho government safe in the knowledge that his arse now was covered by this 180 degree change of course in the 'expert opinion' from his minion.
The committee will want to know what changed Carmona's mind. Portfuel had not changed but something had allowed it to pick up the contracts without any opposition and without questions being asked, until now...
See also
'Former minister slams 'retired foreigners' for disrupting Algarve oil and gas plans'
