NEW SCIENTIST: Oil plans threaten whales' existence: “Shell is the main shareholder of Sakhalin Energy Investment Company (SEIC), which plans to extend existing production facilities and extract 150 million tonnes of oil and 500 billion cubic metres of natural gas from the area”: “The day after the report's publication the company signed a 24-year contract with Tokyo Gas to deliver more than 26 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas to Japan, starting in 2007” (ShellNews.net) 26 Feb 05
BY DUNCAN GRAHAM-ROWE
THE fate of the last remaining western grey whales is bringing conservationists and big business into open conflict. At the centre are plans to run an oil pipeline through the whales' main feeding grounds, near Sakhalin Island off the east coast of Russia.
The $12 billion invested in the project makes it Russia's largest single foreign investment. Shell is the main shareholder of Sakhalin Energy Investment Company (SEIC), which plans to extend existing production facilities and extract 150 million tonnes of oil and 500 billion cubic metres of natural gas from the area. But it agreed to await the findings of an independent environmental assessment before going ahead.
The assessment was carried out by a 14-member international scientific review panel assembled by the IUCN (the World Conservation Union) based in Switzerland. The report, which was published last week, criticised SEIC for "information gaps" in its submission, and recommended that the project be kept on hold until a further evaluation is made of the three possible pipelines linking the area to land.
Environmentalists are worried that the company will press ahead anyway. "The real test will come with the decision SEIC makes now," an IUCN spokesman told New Scientist.
The whales (Eschrichtius robustus) are already threatened by oil spills and collisions with ships servicing drilling platforms. But whether this worsens will depend on the route chosen for the new pipeline. Some options go through the whales' primary foraging area, which environmentalists say will cause severe disruption to the bottom-feeding giants.
Unlike their cousins living along the west coast of North America, which number in the thousands, the survival of the western sub-species is uncertain. They number just 100, with only 23 breeding females.
In a statement last week SEIC said it would decide on the pipeline's route in the coming weeks. The day after the report's publication the company signed a 24-year contract with Tokyo Gas to deliver more than 26 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas to Japan, starting in 2007.