Kicking Oil When It Is Down.
Dennis Knox
Offshore Energy Construction & Installation Professional: Creative & Innovative Solutions to Offshore Project Challenges
On top of all the economic pressures on the offshore oil and gas industry there seems to be a renewed attack on the industry itself. One which the industry does not appear to be defending.
Groups opposed to offshore oil and gas seem to be stepping up their campaigns against the industry. A protest at the British Museum on Sunday received headlines in many news outlets. It was to highlight a letter, published in the Guardian and signed by numerous celebrities in the anti-oil group. Anti-oil lobbyist were lauding news that President Obama will stop the issue of new licences on the Atlantic coast of the USA. They hope that Obama will ban all offshore USA drilling and wind down offshore production.
But If there is an industry response it is not being reported.
When one looks into the arguments being held up as evidences, it is the same old arguments that have been used for decades. Ecological disasters, climate change, and everything evil that is oil. The reality is far from their scaremongering, yet the public hears nothing of the positives of offshore oil and gas. I am sure, for example, that many ocean fisheries would be depleted by now were it not for the oil and gas platforms and their 500m zones providing safe haven for fish nurseries.
The media is quick to trumpet ecological disasters when there is an oil spill, and some of them are serious, but no one talks about the speed of recovery of the environment after a disaster. Evidence the Gulf War when Saddam blew up the platforms and let oil flow freely into the Gulf. The pundits were says it would be decades before the environment recovered. The truth was only a matter of years.
I think the industry needs to be far more proactive in defending its position. It could do this through peer reviewed scientific studies into the actual effects on the environment and fisheries then promote that perspective in public consumption documentaries. The other side of the story needs to be told.
Company Representative/Monitor
7 年Well said Mr. Knox!
see "CalPERS goes into bat for ‘Aiming for A’ climate change reporting resolution at Rio Tinto" on Responsible Investor. The California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS), the largest public pension fund in the US with approximately $290bn (€254bn) in assets, has written to fellow shareholders in Rio Tinto to muster support for the ‘Aiming for A’ climate change reporting resolution at the mining giant later this month.
Independent consultant stakeholder engagement & sustainability. North Sea focus. Nature friendly decommissioning, offshore energy & ecology, CCS. Carbon Collectors, North Sea Energy Program, Noordzeeoverleg, MSG.
8 年In the Netherlands, the O&G industry has been very active defending itself for years, with the effect that they have been attacked by NGOs only more fiercely. I think it is a sign of growing wisdom if the industry is now finally facing reality and start defining a new role for themselves in an energy system based on renwables. Though I am a supporter of R2R, the positive impact of the 500m zones around offshore rigs - which are there only in the North Sea and some other parts of the world, eg not in the US - by far doesn't match the negative impacts of o&g production. Together the safety zones of North Searigs are no larger than the Waddensea island of Texel....
Offshore Energy Construction & Installation Professional: Creative & Innovative Solutions to Offshore Project Challenges
8 年Thanks Campbell, I agree on the media, but the problem is the voting public believe most every work they are told. There needs to be a counter voice. Yes Peter, oil has caused big problems and perhaps we would be better off without it, but the fact remains that renewables cannot replace oil, at least not yet, so pressure to push it out is at best premature. Dead right Steven, but the anti oil campaign is global, flexing of muscle in one sector is quickly followed elsewhere.
Offshore Construction Manager
8 年Yes Dennis you have a point about fish nurseries where they are safe to breed ! However the big picture is not so good in that Oil has created majour problems over the years through greed and power ! Today we are faced with Muslim greed and power financed through Oil Money , my thoughts are we would be all better off without any of it and develop free clean energy , now Oil Money stops this development !