Madrid authorises oil prospecting in Canaries

[Janet]

Rather than oil on the water, it will be fuel on the flames for those who oppose oil exploration off the eastern Canary Islands. A 3.7 earthquake was registered overnight at a depth of some 20 km between Fuerteventura and the African coast, in the area where Repsol has now been given confirmed consent to carry out oil prospecting. There were two aftershocks of 2.4 and 2 on the Richter scale in addition. IGN says that such tremors are normal seismic activity relating to techtonic movement, but that will perhaps hardly reassure those who foresee an oil catastrophe for these islands. JA

[Perikles]

Another article here in El País.


The environmental report gives a probability of an oil spill as 1 in 50,000. Further, they report that if they did find oil, it would be at least 20 years before they would start extracting it. Why? 

[Janet]

probably because of all the contracts that can be given to contacts ... and because they can borrow against the profits ...

[poker]

Wont it dry up in 20 years with the warm climate here .

[Janet]

Regardless of whether Spain explores or drills for oil off the eastern Canaries, Morocco is going ahead with exploitation of the parallel oil fields in any case. The scale of the whole thing is shown in the graphic above, taken from the website of Scottish firm Cairn Energy, who will be carrying out the drilling. Given that the Moroccan oil fields border the Canarian ones, if a disaster happens, it won't much matter whether Spain was actually responsible or not.

It will lend huge impetus to the development lobby in this country given that there seems no reason now not to exploit the Canarian fields and take the money. Chief executive of Cairn Energy, Simon Thompson, said that the Moroccan exploration will be taking place at a depth of between 500 and 2,000 metres, and will be in the areas of the oil field known as Foum Draa and Juby Maritime. JA

[poker]

I read today that the Maroccan gouvernment is already drilling between Marocco and the Canary islands without succes for the moment , they yust discoverd some small pockets of gass .
But they say the existance of gass means there should be oil . . . . .
But they had no luck finding anything till now .
They will do more surveying now they say before looking again as the drilling costs a lot if there is no oil to be found .

[Janet]

Oil drilling in Spanish waters is almost certain to go ahead now, because Genel Energy has confirmed that Cairn Energy's JM-1 well has located oil in the Upper Jurassic as part of Morocco's own exploration in the same area. The well is in the Juby Maritime III block shown in the image above. As I posted HERE recently, the Canarian president is demanding a referendum on whether oil prospecting should proceed in Spanish waters off Fuerteventura and Lanzarote, but Madrid has dismissed the claim out of hand. This week's news that there is indeed oil below those waters make drilling all but inevitable now, I should have thought.

Apart from concerns about oil exploration in an area of regular seismic tremors due to tectonic movement, one wonders what the Canarian government would make of it if it realized that the CEO of Genel Energy is none other than Tony Hayward, the former chief executive of BP at the time of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. Mr Hayward recently said that Genel had begun a high-impact exploration programme in Africa "targeting over 900 mmboe of prospective resource this year, with the first well underway in Morocco and a further three to follow in Malta and Morocco. Each well has the potential to make a material impact on our already significant reserve and resource base." Spain will have its eyes firmly fixed on such potential coming from its own side of the international waters line ...

JA

[Janet]

Cairn and Genel have announced that they have capped and abandoned the JM-1 well. Although they are saying that more time is needed to analyse and determine the quality of what was discovered, sources from the Oficina Nacional de Hidrocarburos y Minas (ONHYM) in Morocco have already said that the oil reserves discovered in a band some 110 metres thick in Upper Jurassic deposits was not of good quality. It seems that Cairn and Genel will now compare the latest findings with those already made to determine how to direct future investigations. JA

[Janet]

The environment department has announced today that the way is clear for Repsol to prospect for oil in Canarian waters. The announcement was made in a ministerial representative meeting with the press in Madrid. It had been speculated over recent weeks that Medio Ambiente would put obstacles in Repsol's way, but in the event, the opposite has been true, and they have been given the green light to seek oil 60km off the coast of the eastern islands. The permiso affects soundings in the concessions denominated by Repsol as Sandía, Chirimoya and Zanahora. Medio Ambiente says that the utmost guarantees are in place to minimise risks. Coincidentally, today also saw the Congreso de los Diputados reject with an absolute majority the possibility of stopping the prospecting. This is now happening.  JA

[Guanche]

There is a rig just off the coast near Santa Cruz being towed by a tug. Its been there for a week or so now.