Johannesburg, 18 August 2020 — News reports this week indicated that oil and gas drill rig DeepSee Stavanger has arrived in Cape Town en route to Brulpadda prospects off the coast of Mossel Bay. In response, Greenpeace Africa’s Senior Climate and Energy Campaign Manager Happy Khambule has said:
“The Department of Mineral Resources and Energy needs to get its story straight. The claim is that the drilling aims to diversify South Africa’s energy mix, yet South Africa does not have any further refinery capacity to accommodate what might be found and use it to shield us against the unreliability of coal, yet another fossil fuel. By drilling and exporting, they are selling the country as a dump for oil prospecting.
“There have been three significant oil spills in the last months, the most recent in Mauritius where hundreds of tonnes of oil were spilled into the ocean. We cannot continue to make the same mistakes, which pose immense threats to biodiversity, in the name of poorly thought out plans for electricity security.
“Oil comes with a lot of risks, complications and negative impacts, whether you drill, carry or burn it. Governments must take serious measures to combat climate change and move forward with a just transition to end the age of oil and into the age of renewable energy.”
ENDS
Contact details
Chris Vlavianos, Greenpeace Africa Communications Officer, +2779 883 7036, [email protected]
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