Greenpeace
accuses oil giant of hypocrisy due to its previously stated position on not
producing oil in the Arctic
Total's chief executive on dangers of drilling for oil in the Arctic - "oil on Greenland would be a disaster". Photograph: Joe Raedle/Getty Images |
Total has
purchased a shipment of Arctic oil from Gazprom, the Russian energy giant, in
apparent contradiction to earlier statements made by the French company's chief
executive about the potential dangers of offshore oil exploration in the
region.
A
spokesperson for Total said: "Total has bought this cargo to feed its
European refining and trading system. Crude oil is an open international market
and for many years we [have bought] crude oil from Russia."
In 2012
Christophe de Margerie told the Financial Times (paywall) that drilling for oil
in Arctic waters was too risky, saying that "a leak would do too much
damage to the image of the company" and that "oil on Greenland would
be a disaster". However, he also said that offshore gas exploration in the
region was much less dangerous; the company is not against Arctic exploration
per se, and has onshore oil and gas operations in the region.
Greenpeace,
however, has criticised the purchase: "Total's decision to buy this oil
smacks of real hypocrisy," said Ben Ayliffe, a campaigner for the
environmental group. "Its CEO has already pledged not to drill in the icy
waters of the far north, and yet he is apparently happy to buy the stuff if
Gazprom takes on the risk. Mr De Margerie cannot have his cake and eat
it."
Total's
spokesperson denied any inconsistency. She said: "This is not in
contradiction with our position regarding the Arctic. In fact we stand [in] the
same position about producing oil in the Arctic: we do not operate in the
icepack and we focus primarily on natural gas projects."
Ayliffe
also raised concerns about the political implications of buying Russian oil.
"As this tanker nears Europe the controversy surrounding it increases by
the day," he said. "Buying the first shipment of offshore Arctic oil
increases our dependence on Russian energy firms and only serves to strengthen
president Vladimir Putin's hand in the geopolitical game he's playing.
He added:
"We must urgently shift away from fossil fuels towards more efficient,
clean technologies. This is no longer a purely environmental imperative. It is
increasingly crucial to our national security."
The oil
comes from Gazprom's Prirazlomnaya platform in the Pechora Sea, which has been
the target of several high-profile actions by Greenpeace, including one in 2012
that saw six campaigners occupy the rig, and one last year in which 28 campaigners and two journalists were arrested on charges of piracy and
hooliganism.
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