In the words on its banner, "No money for killing whales",
Greenpeace is addressing the EBRD as it is about to make a decision
on the loan. A consortium led by Shell wants to invest twelve
billion dollars in the world's most expensive oil and gas
production project, off the coast of the Russian island of Sakhalin
in the North Pacific. It would have a devastating impact on the
last hundred West Pacific grey whales, which find their food in the
shallow waters off Sakhalin.
"Protecting the grey whales is more important than Shell's oil
interests," says Greenpeace's oil expert, Karsten Smid. "If the
corporation fails to realise that it cannot ruthlessly press ahead
with its interests, then the bankers must put a stop to it. They
cannot make the loan. The EBRD only has to call on its own
guidelines here. The Bank is not allowed to finance projects at all
if they fail to meet certain environmental standards and have
severe impacts on people or the natural environment."
There is an estimated total of 700 million tonnes of oil and
2,500 billion cubic metres of gas at Sakhalin. According to press
reports the Sakhalin Energy Investment Company headed by Shell
wants to take up loans of five billion euro from several banks. The
EBRD's decision is particularly important as it is the first bank
to make a decision and so will signal whether or not the project is
credit-worthy.
The exploitation of oil fields off Sakhalin is harming West
Pacific grey whales now. These marine mammals find no peace from
the noise of drilling and explosions, and are malnourished.
Furthermore, their reproduction is threatened. Only 23 females
still live among the hundred animals remaining. "If just one female
a year dies as a result of the oil production expanding, the whole
population will be irrevocably wiped out," says Karsten Smid. A
study by experts at the IUCN world nature protection union made on
behalf of the oil consortium itself and published in February 2005
confirms as much.
The inhabitants native to the island are also suffering because
of the oil boom. They are traditional fishermen and breed reindeer,
and are thus reliant on an intact environment.
Loans for oil projects from the World Bank and the EBRD have
already come under heavy criticism. A World Bank report on its own
work comes to the conclusion that the majority of projects
encourage poverty and environmental destruction rather than combat
them. The report recommends not financing any oil projects in the
future, but financing renewable forms of energy.