Our first victory against Mediterranean Oil and Gas

The Italian Ministry of the Environment has sent MOG's drilling project back to the drawing board on March 15th 2010.

Due to the avalanche of letters of protest to the Ministry - signed by the Catholic Church, the entire Province of Chieti, about 20 municipalities, tourist operators, scientists, medical doctors, fishermen, students, water sports associations, environmental and cultural groups, the Ministry did not allow not grant Mediterranean Oil and Gas the right to drill us.

MOG has itself called for a temporal suspension of their permits, and while trying to figure out what to do next, their CEO - Sergio Morandi - went on Italian TV telling people his rigs will be "safe".

Right. Just like the ones in Lousiana and Australia and Venezuela that have exploded recently.

It was the first time in Italian history that the Ministry of the Environment had been flooded with so many documents, criticizing and calling for authorities not to allow MOG to go ahead with its out-of-this-world plan.

The latter consists of drilling about 5 wells 3 miles offshore, and placing a floating offloading, storage and processing unit in one of the most beautiful seas of central Italy. Nowhere in the world has an FPSO been placed so close to shore, in such shallow waters, and in such close proximity to people's homes and beaches. The FPSO is designed to burn about 100 tons of toxic waste everyday, and will process mostly sour and heavy crude, oil of the worst kind.

On April 18th 2010, about 5000 people convened - under the rain - to say no to Mr. Sergio Morandi's plan.

Go back to London, gentlemen, you will save yourselves money and time.

We will not let you drill our waters. We simply will not.

Shame on the Forest Oil Corporation of Denver

Unwanted by virtually all residents, the Denver based company Forest Oil has announced plans to drill a beloved tourist location in central Italy, lake Bomba.

This is an artificial lake, bordered by a dam, and is known for its recreational fishing activites, hiking, swimming, kayaking and just pure enjoyment of nature. It is a beautiful pristine place, beloved by the people.

Forest Oil intends build a desulfurization plant, a series of oil and gas wells and a vast pipeline network all around the lake. They are doing this against the will of the local people who have protested and petitioned the government to stop this insanity.

Geological reports conducted by the previous owner of the drilling lease - the oil company ENI - showed that the area is at strong risk for land subsidence and that drilling could lead to mudslides and dam failure.

We don't want this to happen. Forest Oil is not welcome here.

TO Mediterranean oil and gas investors, regarding Ombrina Mare

What MOG is telling you:

A few days ago, UK-based Mediterranean oil and Gas announced on several websites the doubling of its reserves for the Ombrina Mare field in the Adriatic waters off Abruzzo, Italy. Current estimates are at about 40 million barrels of oil: 12 are proven, 28 are probable.

MOG also claims that they have submitted plans for development of Ombrina Mare back in 2008 and that they expect to commence production in 2012, through one production platform, an FPSO, five wells and subsea pipelines. They also plan to furher their drilling activities in the future.

What MOG is not telling you:

MOG has not disclosed that currently THEY DO NOT HAVE PERMISSION TO DRILL THE ADRIATIC. Their permits are pending and it is very likely they will be denied.

Indeed, MOG management has been less than candid regarding the huge opposition among residents against this and any and all drilling plans for the region of Abruzzo. MOG plans to drill 6 km - about 4 miles - from shore. Its concession proposal overlaps with fishing sanctuaries. The onshore area is part of the National Park "La costa dei trabocchi". All of us love this sea immensely and MOG is playing with fire by touching something that is so sacred to the Abruzzo people.

Antidrilling sentiments are widespead and virtually every major political, business, social, cultural and religious group has been vocal about its opposition to drilling. We have sent about 100 documents to the Ministry of the environment urging them not to approve MOG's plan. Among signatories: the Catholic Church, Confcommercio (the Union of Merchants), Assoturismo, The Province of Chieti, ten municipalities, the WWF, dozens of academics, medical doctors, lawyers, engineers, school children, soccer clubs. About 50,000 signatures have been gathered so far against all drilling plans for Abruzzo.

A huge protest day against MOG is set for April 18th 2010.

Initially MOG was going to use an onshore refinery to process its crude oil, the ill fated Miglianico project proposed by ENI. The refinery was never built due to opposition from us, the people. Prime Minister Berlusconi himself during a 2008 visit declared there would be no oil refineries in Abruzzo. So MOG changed its plans and proposed the FPSO, 10 km offshore, simply beacuse onshore facilities did nto exist and could not be built by law.

If we were so strong and succesful in stopping ENI - Italy's largest and partly state owned oil company, do you think we will idly sit and let Mr. Sergio Morandi and Mr. Micheal Bonte-Friedheim take our sea from us? ENI iteslf is divesting from Italy because people will not allow them to do as they please in a country that is too beautiful to be destroyed by low grade, sulphur laden crude oil - the bottom of the barrel in words of an ENI executive.

So, the bottom line is that in my personal opinion, investing with MOG or any minor company that wants to drill ecologically sensitive Italy is like throwing your money away.

Apart from the Miglianico oil project (Ortona, ENI) that is on indefinite hold, this writer - a physicist and professor of Mathematics who is part of the Sustanability Institute at her California Institute - has been instrumental in stopping oil projects in il Parco del Curone (Milan) where the Australian firm Po Valley had plans to drill. They packed up and left due to opposition from residents. Similarly in Monopoli (Bari) the Regional Tribunal for Puglia rescinded the drilling permits awarded to Northern Petroleum.

The people of Abruzzo, all 1 million of us, will do all we can to stop MOG.

Can Abruzzo’s Tourism Afford an Oil Spill?

Today the BBC’s World Service revealed that 20,000 gallons of crude oil is trapped in Alaska’s gravel beaches from the Exxon Valedez Oil disaster and is impacting the local eco-system, sea otters, sea ducks and other sea birds, all of whom are producing an enzyme that indicates exposure to oil. The original belief was that the leaked oil would bio-degrade hence clean-up operations had been disbanded in 1992.

Professor Michael Boufadel, chairman of the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering at Temple University, has found there is a susceptibility of beaches worldwide to long-term oil contamination where beaches tend to be gravel or a mixture of sand and gravel. What happens is that the gravel traps the oil between two layers of rock, with larger rocks on top and finer gravel underneath.

The beaches in Abruzzo are mostly soft & sandy, though there are many stony gravel ones, particularly in the Chieti region. Accidents in oil extraction from equipment failure, human error, and natural impacts, i.e. earthquakes, are not just a possibility but highly probable. The chances of accident are increased not just by the proposed oil rigs that major oil companies have applied to construct, but from oil traffic, i.e. oil tankers that would be visiting the proposed refinery in Ortona to take Abruzzo’s low grade oil to distant shores.

Abruzzo’s growing popularity as a holiday destination saw the region this weekend featured by leading UK press: The Times, who named it within its Top 10 ‘Adventure Holidays of a Lifetime’, and within The Guardian who did a feature on Abruzzo Ski-ing, and this is just for its lesser known ‘winter sports’. Tourism benefits all trades within Abruzzo not just the farmers & winegrowers who supply the restaurants, but the chefs that are employed, the marketing companies who promote the area, the printers who create marketing materials, small construction & building companies who build hotels and villas for tourists to stay, to name just a few of those and the ancillaries thereof who benefit. None of these people will be employed by oil companies nor will they have a job if there is an oil spill on Abruzzo’s Adriatic coastline.

Boufadel's study was funded by a $1.2 million, three-year grant from the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council. The council was formed after the environmental disaster to oversee restoration of the sound. Does the Abruzzo Government think it will be in a position of power to request such monies from any of the oil companies involved in future oil exploration in Abruzzo? Does it have funds available to pay for future unemployment that will occur if disaster strikes?

Listen to the BBC Programme, Science in Action that revealed Professor Michael Boufadel's research or read here the findings of his study on long-term oil contamination.

Trabocchi Photograph © 2010 Life in Abruzzo

MOG's Application to Delete Abruzzo Fish Stocks & Endanger Fishermen's Jobs

The fight to stop Abruzzo being trampled by the greedy squabble for its low grade oil continues. Yet another application has been received to drill the very traditions and wildlife out of this beautiful region of central Italy, an appreciation shared by George Clooney (who has just finished filming there) and film directors Anton Corbijin and Luc Jacquet.

This new application has been submitted by the English oil giant MOG (Mediterranean Oil & Gas Co Ltd), who wish to set up an oil rig 6km opposite the Marina di San Vito that sits in the very heart of the trabocchi coastline, and slap-bang in the middle of a fish reserve. This will bring death to both fish and fishermen whose livelihoods will be ruined and who most certainly will not be employed in this enterprise if it is approved.

To understand how this will cause the local marine reserve to falter & die, one first needs to understand the stages of life of an oil platform; each stage shares a common method of dumping toxic drill cuttings and chemicals back into the sea which poisons the very life therein. All have a lethal affect on fish, birds, molluscs, and mammals like dolphins and humans that eat them. This includes cancer, stunted growth, irregular growth of feathers, scales & skin, respiratory system & liver problems in addition to irregular reproductive behaviour.

First Stage - Seismic Survey

Underwater explosions of around 250 decibels (the human pain threshold is at 140 db) are created by air guns to deduce underlying geology that is measured by the reflected sound waves. This has a particularly disturbing effect on dolphins which use sound for communication & navigation. Fish are also displaced, which in turn affects the dolphins and birds which feed on them. Studies have shown that the numbers in fish stock is reduced by 45% within 9.5 km of these blasts. The blasts can damage tissue, including lungs, guts and ears in mammals, and swim bladders in fish.

Second Stage – Drilling State

At this point, "muds" (lubricants) are pumped down, to keep the drill bit cool and to regulate the flow of oil. They consist of hydrocarbons, heavy metals (including cadmium, mercury and lead) and other toxic chemicals, as well as chemicals that stop rusting, and detergents. The drill cuttings (the removed rock) is dumped onto the seabed and the cuttings asphyxiate the life of the seabed, severely impacting the structure of the ecological communities up to several kms around.

Third Stage - Platform & Pipeline Installation

The installation of the platform & pipeline causes further disturbance to seabed ecosystems, through dredging, filling and anchoring. Underwater structures are treated with protective chemicals, which release toxins into the water. The oil platform discharges not just the water it needs to keep it cool, but sewage, constant noise and light pollution.

Most fields contain water as well as oil and gas. This "production water", containing both oil and chemicals, receives only very simple treatment before being discharged. The discharges of production chemicals is estimated at 6,000 tonnes per year (30% of quantity used), plus 84,000 tonnes of drilling chemicals.

Despite Italy signing up to the EU Directive ‘Marine Works (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 2007’, it appears that scant attention is being paid to this act either by MOG Ltd or by any Italian Ministry accepting this application. We urge anyone who wishes Abruzzo to retain its diverse and healthy wildlife to write to these 2 ministeries to petition against this application, here is an example letter for those that need guidance,you will need to change your name and address, the ministery address and the application reference to the MOG reference below. Time is short, please act now as the deadline for petitioning this application is January 25th 2010.

Attention of: Direzione per la Salvaguardia Ambientale del Ministero dell'Ambiente e della Tutela del Territorio e del Mare
Address: Cristoforo Colombo, 44 - 00147 Roma
Application Number/Attenzione: Ombrina Mare - concessione 30 BC MD - Mediterranean Oil and Gas


Attention of: Direzione Generale della Pesca Marittima e dell'Acquacoltura del Ministero delle Politiche Agricole Alimentari e Forestali
Address: Via dell'Arte, 16, Piano 3, Stanza 5 - 00144 - Roma
Application Number/Attenzione: Ombrina Mare - concessione 30 BC MD - Mediterranean Oil and Gas

Further Reading
To read the application form that MOG has submitted click here

The Kids Say No! SOS Abruzzo

Watch the brilliant video that has won a national award for local school children from Ortona. Hear why they want a future Abruzzo to remain oil free and do not want oil companies building an oil refinery in their town. It is naturally in Italian, but these clever kids have added English subtitles to extend the message, ensuring that not just politicans but English speaking Oil Companies hear their wishes.

Last Chance Saloon for Abruzzo to Stay Clean

Wednesday 30th December will see the Abruzzo Regional Council debate the proposed amendments put forward by the ‘No Oil Abruzzo’ Consortium that includes the WWF and the Catholic Church, as well as local residents and communes opposed to drilling for oil in Abruzzo, which it is believed has everything to lose and nothing to gain for Italy’s green heartland.

Leaders of the consortium that included the Italian national WWF director today called for urgent measures to protect the region and the looming demands on its Adriatic Sea & Coastline. Proposals for oil platforms already received suggest drilling less than 5 km from the beach in some parts on the Chieti coast, and it is expected for these soon to follow up to the Teramo area.

The consortium for ‘No Oil Abruzzo’ issued a request for Abruzzo to emulate Emilia Romagna in curtailing oil exploration so that the area’s land, sea and air has a sustainable future where agriculture, tourism & fisheries, as well as the health of the people, will not be compromised in exchange for royalties. It expressed the urgent need to follow European Directives such as the Coastal Management Plan which curtails oil platform proliferation.