Climate change activists have exposed new “lies” in the Portuguese government’s continued push to allow gas and oil drilling off the coast of Aljezur.
Lisbon-based group Climáximo and anti-oil platform PALP have both come up with unsettling evidence that ‘truth’ is being kept in short supply.
Climáximo for example has discovered that between 2010 and 2016, the two companies gunning to drill (GALP and Italians ENI) have jointly received 271 million euros in “fiscal benefits” (in other words the ‘investments’ they have made in hydrocarbon exploration – a purported €70 million – have been easily covered by savings attributed by the Portuguese government), while PALP has discovered from documents in the public domain that ENI says it was given the go-ahead last summer for depth-sounding work despite the fact that a ‘providência cautelar’ was in place, and should have precluded any kind of work connected to the contract.
The two inconvenient truths not only blow holes in the government mantra that it has to allow GALP/ ENI to drill, as both companies have “invested so much” but are, says Climáximo, further proof that “the process of concessions given to oil companies in Portugal is covered by an enormous blanket of opacity and lies”.
This is the point, says the group, when “the government has to revoke authorisation for the Aljezur well and cancel all concessions currently in force”.
Further muddying the waters is the fact that Climáximo has further discovered that much of the millions of euros in tax breaks went to a company with its base in the ‘offshore paradise’ of Madeira (official name ‘Zona Franca da Madeira’).
Developing this aspect of the story, Público explains that Saipem Portugal Comércio Marítimo is the company whose boat has been contracted to drill 46 kms off the coast of Aljezur any day now.
It is the company that has received most tax benefits in Portugal for one reason and one reason alone, says the paper: “It is based in the zona franca da Madeira”.
As for Saipem Portugal’s “main shareholder”, it is oil company ENI, confirms Público.
Stepping into the gathering storm has come Association Zero, nominating the GALP/ ENI concession for an award in a competition attributed to ‘bad environmental practices’.
Says Zero, the nomination is “another opportunity for civic organisations to demonstrate against an initiative that goes against all the climate change commitments made by the country”.
Voting is open online for this award until March 30 (access: http://www.caneurope.org/fossil-fuel-subsidies-awards).
The fervour in Portugal now to show the government how populations feel is steadily increasing.
In Lagos yesterday there was a march promoted by the “Keep it Blue” surfers’ side of this fight (click here), while in Lisbon on Saturday April 14 there will be a major march from Largo Camões to the parliamentary building in a demo under the banner “Enterrar de Vez o Furo, Tirar as Petrolíferas do Mar” (Bury drilling once and for all, Get the oil companies out of the Sea).
natasha.donn@algarveresident.com
