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Posted by ++ on December 11, 2007, 11:37 am
ublished on Monday, December 10, 2007 by The Independent/UK
BP Set To Commit =E2=80=98The Biggest Environmental Crime in History=E2=80=
=99
by Cahal Milmo
BP, the British oil giant that pledged to move =E2=80=9CBeyond Petroleum=E2=
=80=9D by=20
finding cleaner ways to produce fossil fuels, is being accused of=20
abandoning its =E2=80=9Cgreen sheen=E2=80=9D by investing nearly =C2=A31.=
5bn to extract oil=20
from the Canadian wilderness using methods which environmentalists say=20
are part of the =E2=80=9Cbiggest global warming crime=E2=80=9D in history=
=2E1210 05
The multinational oil and gas producer, which last year made a profit of =
=C2=A311bn, is facing a head-on confrontation with the green lobby in the=
=20
pristine forests of North America after Greenpeace pledged a direct=20
action campaign against BP following its decision to reverse a=20
long-standing policy and invest heavily in extracting so-called =E2=80=9C=
oil=20
sands=E2=80=9D that lie beneath the Canadian province of Alberta and form=
the=20
world=E2=80=99s second-largest proven oil reserves after Saudi Arabia.
Producing crude oil from the tar sands - a heavy mixture of bitumen,=20
water, sand and clay - found beneath more than 54,000 square miles of=20
prime forest in northern Alberta - an area the size of England and Wales =
combined - generates up to four times more carbon dioxide, the principal =
global warming gas, than conventional drilling. The booming oil sands=20
industry will produce 100 million tonnes of CO2 (equivalent to a fifth=20
of the UK=E2=80=99s entire annual emissions) a year by 2012, ensuring tha=
t=20
Canada will miss its emission targets under the Kyoto treaty, according=20
to environmentalist activists.
The oil rush is also scarring a wilderness landscape: millions of tonnes =
of plant life and top soil is scooped away in vast open-pit mines and=20
millions of litres of water are diverted from rivers - up to five=20
barrels of water are needed to produce a single barrel of crude and the=20
process requires huge amounts of natural gas. The industry, which now=20
includes all the major oil multinationals, including the Anglo-Dutch=20
Shell and American combine Exxon-Mobil, boasts that it takes two tonnes=20
of the raw sands to produce a single barrel of oil. BP insists it will=20
use a less damaging extraction method, but it accepts that its=20
investment will increase its carbon footprint.
Mike Hudema, the climate and energy campaigner for Greenpeace in Canada, =
told The Independent: =E2=80=9CBP has done a very good job in recent year=
s of=20
promoting its green objectives. By jumping into tar sands extraction it=20
is taking part in the biggest global warming crime ever seen and BP=E2=80=
=99s=20
green sheen is gone.
=E2=80=9CIt takes about 29kg of CO2 to produce a barrel of oil convention=
ally.=20
That figure can be as much 125kg for tar sands oil. It also has the=20
potential to kill off or damage the vast forest wilderness, greater than =
the size of England and Wales, which forms part of the world=E2=80=99s bi=
ggest=20
carbon sinks. For BP to be involved in this trade not only flies in the=20
face of their rhetoric but in the era of climate change it should not be =
being developed at all. You cannot call yourself =E2=80=98Beyond Petroleu=
m=E2=80=99 and=20
involve yourself in tar sands extraction.=E2=80=9D Mr Hudema said Greenpe=
ace was=20
planning a direct action campaign against BP, which could disrupt its=20
activities as its starts construction work in Alberta next year.
The company had shied away from involvement oil sands, until recently=20
regarded as economically unviable and environmentally unpleasant. Lord=20
Browne of Madingley, who was BP=E2=80=99s chief executive until May, sold=
its=20
remaining Canadian tar sands interests in 1999 and declared as recently=20
as 2004 that there were =E2=80=9Ctons of opportunities=E2=80=9D beyond th=
e sector. But=20
as oil prices hover around the $100-per-barrel mark, Lord Browne=E2=80=99=
s=20
successor, Tony Hayward, announced that BP has entered a joint venture=20
with Husky Energy, owned by the Hong Kong based billionaire Li Ka-Shing, =
to develop a tar sands facility which will be capable of producing=20
200,000 barrels of crude a day by 2020. In return for a half share of=20
Husky=E2=80=99s Sunrise field in the Athabasca region of Alberta, the epi=
centre=20
of the tar sands industry, BP has sold its partner a 50 per cent stake=20
in its Toledo oil refinery in Ohio. The companies will invest $5.5bn=20
(=C2=A32.7) in the project, making BP one of the biggest players in tar s=
ands=20
extraction.
Mr Hayward made it clear that BP considered its investment was the start =
of a long-term presence in Alberta. He said: =E2=80=9CBP=E2=80=99s move i=
nto oil sands=20
is an opportunity to build a strategic, material position and the huge=20
potential of Sunrise is the ideal entry point for BP into Canadian oil=20
sands.=E2=80=9D
Canada claims that it has 175 billion barrels of recoverable oil in=20
Alberta, making the province second only to Saudi Arabia in proved oil=20
riches and sparking a =C2=A350bn =E2=80=9Coil rush=E2=80=9D as American, =
Chinese and European=20
investors rush to profit from high oil prices. Despite production costs=20
per barrel of up to =C2=A315, compared to =C2=A31 per barrel in Saudi Ara=
bia, the=20
Canadian province expects to be pumping five million barrels of crude a=20
day by 2030.
BP said it will be using a technology that pumps steam heated by natural =
gas into vertical wells to liquefy the solidified oil sands and pump it=20
to the surface in a way that is less damaging than open cast mining. But =
campaigners said this method requires 1,000 cubic feet of gas to produce =
one barrel of unrefined bitumen - the same required to heat an average=20
British home for 5.5 days.
A spokesman for BP added: =E2=80=9CThese are resources that would have be=
en=20
developed anyway.=E2=80=9D
Licenses have been issued by the Albertan government to extract 350=20
million cubic metres of water from the Athabasca River every year. But=20
the water used in the extraction process, say campaigners, is so=20
contaminated that it cannot be returned to the eco-system and must=20
instead be stored in vast =E2=80=9Ctailings ponds=E2=80=9D that cover up =
to 20 square=20
miles and there is evidence of increased rates of cancer and multiple=20
sclerosis in down-river communities.
Experts say a pledge to restore all open cast tar sand mines to their=20
previous pristine condition has proved sadly lacking. David Schindler,=20
professor of ecology at the University of Alberta, said: =E2=80=9CRight n=
ow the=20
big pressure is to get that money out of the ground, not to reclaim the=20
landscape. I wouldn=E2=80=99t be surprised if you could see these pits fr=
om a=20
satellite 1,000 years from now.=E2=80=9D
Have your say
How can BP be stopped from perpetrating this environmental =E2=80=98crime=
=E2=80=99? Tell=20
us what you think. Email haveyoursay@ independent.co.uk or go to=20
www.independent.co.uk/haveyoursay
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