When we talk about hydrocarbons, we are talking about a sector that is a protagonist in the current international scenario unleashed after the war between Russia and Ukraine and the world’s need to find alternative sources to meet energy demand.
It is a historic moment that presents a great growth opportunity for the sector, and therefore, to promote the economic development of the country. According to the Minister of Productive Development, these projects could generate around 200,000 direct and indirect jobs and exports of around 25,000 million dollars a year. This growth does not have to be to the detriment of the environment and tourism on the Argentine Atlantic coast.
First of all, we are not talking about a new activity. In the country, offshore exploitation has been carried out fundamentally in the southern basin for twenty years. It is also an activity that practically runs all over the world. We can take as an example Brazil, Canada, Holland or Norway. In fact, in this case of the Mar del Plata coast, a Norwegian company, the country with the greatest oil experience in terms of offshore exploitation, is going to commission it.
It is true that zero risk does not exist. But it is also true that statistics can give us peace of mind. With the exception of the incident in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010, there are practically no reports of claims in this type of operation. They are practically non-existent. Tranquility also gives us the experience we have in the southern basin, where safety procedures are extremely rigorous, and they will be much more so when dealing with deep waters.
At the same time, there is the concern of populous cities near the extraction. But the truth is that we are talking about a well more than 300 kilometers away from the Buenos Aires coast, therefore, according to the Argentine Oil and Gas Institute, the city is not even going to find out about the works.
Much progress has been made in security protocols and international standards so that economic growth in this area is sustainable and protects ecosystems. It is relevant to know that offshore exploitation can be developed in complete harmony with the ecological environment through sustainable undertakings, and such works will be developed under national and international standards regulated at the highest level.
When raising the issue of offshore exploitation and environmental risks, it is even wrong to speak of discrepancies, since the oil worker sector that we represent and the environmental organizations are united by the same interests and concerns: that the industry develop under criteria safe and environmentally friendly.
Society shows its concerns about the sustainability of the environment and the labor representation shares the interest in ensuring that sustainability. It is also the habitat of our source of work, and as a consequence, of the environment in which our own colleagues will develop.
We continue to be entangled in anachronistic discussions that do not take into account the advances that have been made in the field of environmental safety and that work without problems here and in other parts of the world. In these months, several meetings have been held between the different public and private protagonists, and just as we hope that all legal mechanisms can soon be unlocked and exploration and production begin in the region, we hope that all available measures to prevent and mitigate all kinds of risks are put into practice.
No one is more interested than us that these developments on the Argentine coast meet all environmental safety requirements. There is no versus in this story. Fear paralyzes us, and we cannot allow that when we have an opportunity in front of us that can boost the country and generate the entry of dollars for the national economy.
Treasurer of the Argentine Union Federation of Oil, Gas and Biofuels (FASiPeGyBio).
Source: Ambito
