South Africa court suspends Shell seismic survey plan

France24 – AFP, 28 December 2021

The ruling is a temporary victory for green groups who said seismic exploration
would harm whales, seals and other fragile species RODGER BOSCH AFP

Johannesburg (AFP) – A South African court on Tuesday blocked Shell from using seismic waves to explore for oil and gas in the Indian Ocean, in a victory for environmentalists worried about the impact on whales and other species. 

Backing a suit filed by conservationists, the High Court in the Eastern Cape town of Makhanda ruled that Shell was "hereby interdicted from undertaking seismic survey operations." 

The fossil fuel giant had announced plans to start exploration over more than 6,000 square kilometres (2,300 square miles) of ocean off South Africa's Wild Coast region. 

The Wild Coast is a 300-kilometre (185-mile) stretch of natural beauty, dotted with marine and nature reserves. 

The area of interest lies 20 kilometres (12 miles) off the coast, in waters 700 to 3,000 meters deep (2,300 to 10,000 feet). 

Shell's scheme entails using seismic shockwaves which bounce off the sea bed, and whose signature can point to potentially energy-bearing sites. 

"Many sea creatures will be affected, from whales, dolphins, seals, penguins to tiny plankton that will be blasted," said Janet Solomon, of the environmental group Oceans Not Oil in the runup to the hearing. 

Exploration had been scheduled to start on December 1 and last up to five months. 

A Shell spokesperson said Tuesday: "We respect the court's decision and have paused the survey while we review the judgement. 

'Huge victory'

"Surveys of this nature have been conducted for over 50 years with more than 15 years of extensive peer-reviewed scientific research." 

The campaigners were jubilant at the ruling, but stressed that the relief was only temporary. 

"It's a huge victory," said Katherine Robinson of the NGO Natural Justice. 

"But the struggle is not over -- this decision is just the interdict. We understand that the proceedings will continue." 

A petition against the project had gathered nearly 85,000 signatures. 

Campaigners said the scheme would entail "one extremely loud shock wave every 10 seconds, 24 hours a day, for five months at a time." 

Shell argued that it took "great care to prevent or minimise" the impact on wildlife, and promised that the work would strictly follow the guidelines of the Joint Nature Conservation Committee, a UK government adviser on nature conservation. 

On Tuesday, it also stressed what it described as the benefits for South Africa if oil and gas were found. 

"South Africa is highly reliant on energy imports for many of its energy needs," the company's spokesperson said. 

"If viable resources were to be found offshore, this could significantly contribute to the country’s energy security and the government’s economic development programmes." 

South Africa's energy ministry had backed the scheme, and lashed those who opposed it as thwarting investment in the country's development. 

The High Court's ruling comes after a lower court rejected the conservationists' suit in early December. 

Several fishermen and local groups were also part of the petition.

Lebanon president hedges over eventual peace with Israel in interview

MSN – AFP, 16 Aug 2020

Lebanon president hedges over eventual peace with Israel in interview

Lebanese President Michel Aoun, ally of Israel's arch-foe Hezbollah, seemed to leave the door open to eventual peace with the Jewish state, in an interview with French news channel BFMTV.

Michel Aoun wearing a suit and tie: Lebanese President Michel Aoun, pictured here in a file photo, seemed to leave the door open to eventual peace with the Jewish state, in an interview with French news channel BFMTV© - Lebanese President Michel Aoun, pictured here in a file photo, seemed to leave the door open to eventual peace with the Jewish state, in an interview with French news channel BFMTV

Lebanon has technically been at war with neighbouring Israel for decades, with tensions sporadically flaring in the border area in Lebanon's south, stronghold of the Shiite Muslim Hezbollah movement.

Asked in an interview on BFMTV on Saturday whether Lebanon would be prepared to make peace with Israel, Aoun responded: "That depends. We have problems with Israel, we have to resolve them first."

His statement came in the wake of an announcement Thursday that Israel would normalise relations with the United Arab Emirates, only the third Arab state to establish full diplomatic ties with Israel since its creation in 1948.

"It's an independent country," Aoun said of the UAE.

Aoun's Christian Free Patriotic Movement has for years been politically allied with Hezbollah, enabling them to dominate parliament and the government, which resigned on Monday amid outrage over negligence that led to the deadly explosion at Beirut's port that devastated the capital.

Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah said on Friday of the Israel-UAE agreement that "it's a betrayal of Jerusalem and the Palestinian people. It's a knife in the back."

A key point of contention between Lebanon and Israel concerns oil and gas resources in the eastern Mediterranean, where both countries have sought bids for exploration in their exclusive economic zones.

The maritime border between the countries is disputed.

Aoun's interview was aired in the aftermath of the Beirut blast on August 4 that killed 177 people and wounded at least 6,500 more, with many blaming systemic corruption and negligence of the entrenched political class for the disaster.

Many Lebanese have demanded the ouster of the entire ruling class, dominated by ex-warlords from the country's 1975-1990 civil war, including of Aoun.

Asked by the BFMTV journalist if he had thought of stepping down, Aoun said, "it's impossible, there would be a vacuum".

Related Article:

Israel and UAE to normalise ties in 'historic' US-brokered deal

A decade after Deepwater, BP faces new existential challenges

Yahoo - AFP, Véronique DUPONT, April 22, 2020

BP says it has reformed its culture over the past decade to emphasise operational
security and to prevent environmental damage (AFP Photo)

London (AFP) - Ten years after an oil spill that BP's new boss Bernard Looney admits tested the company "to the core", the firm is facing two existential challenges: the collapse of prices and climate change.

It was a decade ago this week that an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon rig in the Gulf of Mexico triggered the worst oil spill in US history, killing 11 employees and ultimately costing the British firm more than $70 billion.

Speaking in February as BP announced plans to go carbon neutral by 2050, chief executive officer Looney said that "we learned some hard lessons we will never forget".

"We remember those lessons in this new decade, where the big challenge for BP is the one the world faces: climate change," he said.

Anglo-Dutch oil giant Royal Dutch Shell has followed suit in pledging to become carbon neutral but the US groups and French firm Total are lagging behind.

Map and factfile on the environmental disaster in the Gulf of Mexico triggered by

 the explosion in April 2010 of BP's Deepwater Horizon oil drilling platform US 

environment energy oil disaster (AFP Photo)

BP says it has reformed its culture over the past decade to emphasise operational security and to prevent environmental damage, for example through a programme to detect methane leaks.

The company's latest figures show an increase in its oil spills from 124 in 2018 to 152 in 2019, but BP puts this down to acquisitions over the period.

The 2020s began amid greater pressure on multinationals to reduce their carbon emissions, from investor demands to dramatic protests by climate campaigners.

The global coronavirus pandemic has brought a new and unprecedented challenge for oil firms, causing a drop in demand that has sent prices plummeting.

The collapse in prices complicates the transition to cleaner energy for oil majors, because cheap oil makes green energy comparatively less attractive.

For campaign group Greenpeace, the choice for the industry is clear: 'Either 

becoming renewable energy companies or ultimately shutting down' (AFP 

Photo/Mark RALSTON)

BP puts almost all of its $15 billion annual investment budget into fossil fuels, although it has acquired stakes in solar panel firms and electric vehicle charging companies worth a total of $400 million.

"Their basic business model hasn't changed," said Bobby Banerjee, professor of management at City, University of London.

"They invest most of their money in gas and oil" because "they're confident there will be demand for oil" in the next 50 to 70 years, he said.

He said for BP, the energy transition was all about shifting from oil to gas, which is still a polluting hydrocarbon.

"The return they get on fossil fuels is not the return they'll get on renewables," he said.

In this file photo taken on June 08, 2010, veterinarians clean an oil-covered brown 

pelican found off the Louisiana coast and affected by the BP (AFP Photo/Saul LOEB)

Changing the model 

Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said after the Deepwater crisis BP shed some assets and bet on low oil prices in the long run, reducing its costs and making the group more resilient.

But it has huge debts, totalling some $45 billion at the end of 2019, leaving it vulnerable to a sustained drop in revenues.

Looney now faces a dilemma. He must decarbonise the group while preserving its profitability and share price, which has fallen by 40 percent since the beginning of the year, a plunge experienced by many rivals.

He has promised to say more in September about how he will reach his carbon neutral target and is expected to bet on gas, still untested carbon capture technology and renewables.

BP could also take advantage of carbon offsetting schemes, which involve investing in green projects but are heavily criticised by environmentalists.

For campaign group Greenpeace, the choice for the industry is clear: "Either becoming renewable energy companies or ultimately shutting down."

"The crash in the oil market is the closest thing BP and the rest of the global oil industry will get to a dress rehearsal for the transition to come," a spokesperson said.

Related Article:

BP agrees to $20 billion fund for spill costs

The Netherlands calls on Shell to clean up North Sea oil rigs

DutchNews, October 10, 2019

The four Brent platforms: Photo: Shell 

The Dutch government wants Shell to clean up the foundations of three oil and gas platforms in the British part of the North Sea, infrastructure minister Cora van Nieuwenhuizen has told MPs. 

The minister’s comments follow the publication of a report on the decommissioning operation which recommends the clean up be carried out as agreed over 20 years ago in international treaties. 

The licence request ‘does not sufficiently support’ the claim that leaving the foundations and storage units, which contain polluted material, is the best option from an environmental or safety point of view, the minister told MPs. 

The Netherlands, she said, will join Germany in making a formal protest about the plan. 

The clean-up was agreed in a special treaty known as Ospar which was adopted in 1992. The Ospar treaty states that rigs, including their contents and pipelines, must be removed from the sea after decommissioning. 

Shell, however, wants to leave the foundations of three of the four Brent platforms – Brent Bravo, Brent Charlie and Brent Delta – in the North Sea. It argues that removing the three concrete constructions would be risky and expensive. 

Risks 

‘Constructed nearly half a century ago, they were not designed to be removed,’ Shell said when submitting the decommissioning plans in 2017.  ‘We have to consider the safety of those who will work offshore to deliver this project. The safety risks associated with trying to remove them outweigh minimal environmental benefit.’ 

The final decision is up to Britain and it is keen to make an exception for the three platforms. Germany and the Netherlands, which only have an advisory role, are opposed, fearing the impact of leaks of polluted oil in the concrete bases on marine life. 

The topside of the Brent Bravo platform was taken to Britain for scrapping in June this year. 

The Brent field was discovered in 1971 and started production five years later.