Montara, Western Australia (2009) Equivalent of one ‘Rena’ disaster everyday for 74 days in a row…
Deepwater Horizon exploratory well (2010)
Petrobras P36, March 2001
“Petrobras has established new global benchmarks for the generation of exceptional shareholder wealth through an aggressive and innovative programme of cost cutting on its P36 production facility…” ! !
– 1km oil slick reported from P-‐57 plaNorm in Jubarte field (May 2012); oil leak from another well at Roncador field, 500m from Nov 2011 spill (Apr 2012); two offshore oil spills: one small and one undisclosed amount (Mar 2012); Petrobras rig fire, oil and drilling fluid spill off Rio (Mar 2012); 30 barrels spilt from a Petrobras rig off Rio on (Feb 2012); 160 barrels of oil leaked from Petrobras plaNorm offshore from Sao Paulo (Jan 2012)
– death of another Petrobras employee and injury of two others in a Boxing Day accident on the PUB-‐03 oil rig in offshore waters in Rio Grande do Norte state (Dec 2011)
– Police say material dumped in the river from Petrobras refinery violated the limits set by environmental law.
– a spill from a project co-‐owned by Petrobras and Chevron spewed 3,000 barrels of oil into the sea and took a week to get under control. Local government authoriaes have taken a civil lawsuit against the polluters claiming US$11billion in damages.
– Petrobras worker killed and his colleague badly disfigured from a refinery explosion in Argenana that was similar to another fatal accident two years earlier.
– major incident in the Gulf of Mexico involved a deep sea riser coming loose with a 130 tonne buoy narrowly missing another rig as the company prepared to start the first new extracaon since the Deepwater Horizon disaster. Had the break happened a few days later when oil had started pumping, analysts claim it could have resulted in a disaster similar to the BP oil leak in 2010.
Petrobras Wall of Shame 2011-‐2012
Permit 38348
Expires: 7/11/2011
Area: 1606 SQKM
LocaNon: East Coast Basin
OperaNon Name: Waitangi Hill
Minerals: Oil, Condensate, LPG, Petroleum, Gas
Te Puia
Tokomaru Bay
Whangara
Tolaga Bay
Te Karaka
Whatatutu
‘landfarming’ (contaminated mud spread onto farmland)
Toxic waste stored in unlined pits Stream polluaon
‘landfarming’ (contaminated mud spread onto farmland) Chemical spill near well site
At New Plymouth District Council Hearing (14 May 2012) on TAG Oil’s proposal to expand its drilling operaNons at the Sidewinder site a company representaNve claimed that they have an ‘impeccable track record’ there. The TAG Oil representaave gave a long talk about the Resource Management Act and New Plymouth District Plan and concluded that the proposed expansion is "not out of character" of the local rural environment because there're already several oil/gas sites in the area; effects such as noise can be miagated so it is no more than minor; and the commissioners must not consider any "irrelevant, extraneous makers" and instead think about the potenaal benefits -‐ money and jobs to the whole of NZ!
Let’s have a look at the July 2011 Taranaki Regional Council monitoring report on Sidewinder…
• In the 10 months of operaaons from Sept 2010, there were two diesel spills, a cement spill and several breaches of consent condiNons.
• The tank for storing hazardous substances including diesel was only single skinned when it’s supposed to be double-‐skinned.
• A water sample taken at the point where stormwater discharged to land near to Piakau Stream revealed levels of chloride and suspended solids above consent limits.
• There were issues with Halliburton’s pracaces surrounding cleaning pipes and containment of discharged products.
• Consent 7596-‐1 was not complied with because TRC did not receive noaficaaon of flaring.
• No chemical analysis was undertaken on emissions from the flare to verify consent compliance re carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide and other contaminants.
Source: hkp://www.trc.govt.nz/assets/Publicaaons/technical-‐reports/oil-‐and-‐gas-‐compliance-‐monitoring-‐reports/890325.pdf
How does mining happen?
1. Government issues a permit 2. Owners negoaate access 3. Council issues Resource Consents
What are the benefits?
Probable: 1. a few local jobs 2. some increase in local economic acavity 3. some government royalaes
Possible: 1. significant number of local jobs 2. high increase in local economic acavity
What are the risks?
Risk Likelihood Impact polluted surface water/waterways High Medium
polluted land High Medium
polluted underground aquifers Low High
polluted air High Medium
significant earthquakes Low Low?
negaNve social impacts Guaranteed Medium-‐High
negaNve cultural impacts Guaranteed High
negaNve economic impacts Guaranteed Medium
greenhouse gas emissions Guaranteed High
=500MW (Huntly: 1000MW = 17% NZ electricity & 50% greenhouse gases from electricity gen.)