Oil-drilling starts off coasts of Lanzarote and Fuerteventura
Wednesday, November 19, 2014 @ 12:51 PM
OIL extraction has started off the coast of the Canary Islands despite protests from the regional government and Greenpeace.
Fuel giant REPSOL perforated 90 metres down into the sea bed around 60 miles to the east of Lanzarote and Fuerteventura after a full day's work yesterday (Tuesday).
In total, they will go down some three kilometres, which will affect around 880 metres of water and 2,000 metres of sea bed, to find out if useful oil reserves can be exploited.
The whole operation, in which REPSOL has invested 200 million euros and set aside a further 100 million for a second drilling session, will be finished between the end of January and beginning of February.
Although Canary Island president Paulino Rivero is dead against the oil-drilling, believing it will cause untold environmental damage and destroy beaches the region needs for summer tourism, REPSOL spokesman Marcos Fraga stresses this will not be the case.
Drilling comes with 'full safety guarantees' and is carried out in accordance with industry standards used in Norway – the most stringent in the world.
Oil slicks are extremely unlikely since the rig workers are highly experienced, and many other countries worldwide with fuel plants offshore – including Brazil, Venezuela, Norway, the UK and New Zealand – have not suffered any ill effects to their coastlines, sea water or fishing industries.
Read more at thinkSPAIN.com