RUSSIA: La compañía operadora del proyecto energético Sajalín-2 pagará 11 millones de dólares por contaminar el medio ambiente

La compañía operadora del proyecto energético Sajalín-2 pagará 11 millones de dólares por contaminar el medio ambiente de esta isla rusa del Pacífico, anunció Ian Craig, director del consorcio Sakhalin Energy.

"El pago por daños medioambientales corresponde al operador del proyecto", aseguró Craig durante la conferencia internacional "Petróleo y Gas en Sajalín", citado por la agencia Interfax.

Craig explicó que esa suma fue establecida por el Organismo de Protección Medioambiental de Rusia (OPMR) en concepto de compensación.

Las autoridades rusas amenazaron en septiembre del pasado año a Sakhalin Energy con suspender el proyecto si no garantizaba la seguridad ecológica del mismo y, por la misma razón, paralizaron en diciembre las obras de construcción de su principal gasoducto.

Las amenazas de suspensión del proyecto cesaron cuando los integrantes del consorcio operador desde 1994 -la anglo-holandesa Royal Dutch/Shell y las japonesas Mitsui y Mitsubishi- vendieron la mitad de sus acciones en el proyecto al gigante ruso Gazprom por 7.450 millones de dólares.

Craig adelantó que, según un plan elaborado por Gazprom y el OPMR, se procederá a la recogida de las basuras durante toda la duración del proyecto, y también se inspeccionará que éste no afecte al desovado de los salmones en la temporada estival.

El ministro ruso de Recursos Naturales, Yuri Trutnev, mantiene que Sakhalin Energy nunca debió de haber obtenido la autorización ecológica de su ministerio para la puesta en marcha del proyecto en 2003, cuando el titular del ministerio era Vitali Artiujov.

El ex ministro fue acusado de haber firmado 62 licencias para la exploración de yacimientos de petróleo horas antes de abandonar el cargo en marzo de 2004.

Sajalín-2, valorado en 20.000 millones de dólares y que emplea a unos 17.000 trabajadores, es considerado el proyecto de inversión exterior más importante de Rusia.

El consorcio ya tuvo que desviar en 2005 la ruta de uno de los oleoductos clave en la isla para proteger a las ballenas grises, especie en peligro de extinción que habita en esa zona del Pacífico.

Según el consorcio internacional, los yacimientos de Sajalín-2 tienen reservas comprobadas de 150 millones de toneladas de petróleo y 500.000 millones de metros cúbicos de gas.

Esa isla acoge también el proyecto Sajalín-1, operado por el consorcio Exxon Neftegaz, que integra a la petrolera norteamericana Exxon Mobil, la nipona Sodeco, la india ONGC Videsh y la mayor petrolera estatal rusa Rosneft.

Via: EFE
Russia|Organismo de Protección Medioambiental de Russia,Sakhalin-2,Sakhalin-1,environment,Mitsubishi,Shell,Neftegas,Gazprom,OPMR,Yuri Trutnev,Sakhalin Energy,Vitali Artiujov,ExxonMobil,ONGC,SODECO,Videsh,Rosneft,Russia,Mitsui,medio ambiente,energyblog

Found this post useful? Consider subscribing to
G3nergy Blog Feed/RSS.

UE: European Union Policy consultation; Sustainable energy

by Eluned Morgan

For renewables to become truly competitive with traditional energy sources the sector requires a quantum leap in levels of investment and research.

Last January, a bitter shiver ran through many homes in western Europe when the Russian firm Gazprom cut off gas supplies to Ukraine. That momentary shiver soon developed into a concerned shiver among politicians across Europe as the recognition dawned that if we were to continue on our current trajectory, over 80 per cent of the EU’s future gas supply was likely to come from this direction. On top of this, 2006 witnessed an increasing awareness of the fact that climate change is affecting our planet more quickly and in more dramatic ways than we hitherto imagined, and that if we are to combat this threat we must surely start by radically changing the way we use and produce energy.

On both counts, renewable energy provides us with solutions. Indeed, with their capability for reducing CO2 emissions and ensuring security of supply, renewables were always to be a vital component of any future energy policy. Yet it is clear that the EU will have to take a quantum leap in terms of its use of renewable energy and undertake a major drive to make it competitive with “traditional” energy sources. Earlier this month the European commission set the ball rolling announcing proposals for a 20 per cent binding target for renewable energy consumption by 2020. A laudable target, despite falling short of the 25 per that the European parliament had called for.

Yet, as ever, the devil is in the detail. As it stands, there is concern that the commission’s proposals may endanger the existing and successful directive on electricity from renewables and may fail to give the heating and cooling sector a much needed European-wide legal framework. We know that the 2001 directive on electricity from renewables has been a successful instrument for their development. Thanks to it, many member states have a much higher share of renewables than could have been imagined five or ten years ago. But to guarantee the continuation of this success there is a case for a new sectoral target for 2020, otherwise we risk watering-down our best tool Eluned Morgan is parliament’s rapporteur on the EU strategy for sustainable, competitive and for promoting renewable energy. Certainly, the consequences of weak or absent sectoral targets can be seen clearly in the biofuel and heating and cooling sector where lack of legislative direction has led to years of stagnation. For this reason there is a patent need to explore further just how the commission justifies its proposal for an overall directive for renewables.

For renewables to become truly competitive with traditional energy sources, the sector requires investment and research. At the moment, the European environment agency estimates that the EU and the governments of its 15 older member states together provide €5.3bn a year in subsidies to renewables. This amounts to just over one-sixth of the total volume of subsidies given annually to the energy sector. Fossil fuel production and consumption receive much greater subsidies than renewables – an estimated €21.7bn. A shift in investment policy is vital – to ensure investment market security and meet the proposed targets. Perhaps most pressing of all is the need to translate EU proposals into action at the national level.

We now have a 20 per cent EU target but targets from individual member states look distant; at the recent energy council meeting only four member states supported the proposed mandatory targets. Time is of the essence. It is crucial that the commission and the parliament put pressure on member states to outline how exactly they intend to reach the 30 per cent cut in carbon emissions by 2020 that is required in order to stop the ice caps from melting. Those resistant to an ambitious approach to renewables would do well to remember that a Europe of clean, efficient and innovative energy supplies will be the economic winner of tomorrow. The Stern report laid this out in no uncertain terms. By reducing our dependence on gas and oil, creating an innovative new European industry with tremendous growth and employment potential and export opportunities, renewables will be vital to ensuring a secure and
prosperous future for Europe.

EUROPARLAMENT