One of the projects the environmental organizations are planning major actions against is Bay du Nord off the coast of New Foundland. According to Equinor, a perfect project because it will take place in a harsh marine environment, in deep water not unlike what the company knows from the Norwegian coast. The field will be able to produce up to 358 million barrels of oil. For environmentalists; a very risky oil project in vulnerable sea areas, with important whale populations. Equinor found oil in Bay du Nord off Canadian Newfoundland in 2013. The field is planned to be developed with a production and storage vessel (FPSO), and it is expected to come into production in the late 2020s. Photo: Equinor Optimism after Wisting postponement When Equinor said earlier this autumn that the Wisting field in the Barents Sea would be put on ice for 4 years, the environmental movement cheered. They took it as a victory for years of struggle and mobilization against Wisting. Equinor explained the postponement by saying that the cost of the project had become too high. Nevertheless, the parking of the Wisting field has given many environmental organizations outside Norway the belief that it is possible to stop a company like Equinor with actions. Climate activists tried to force their way into Equinor’s autumn conference on 29 November 2022. Six of them were arrested in relation to the action, which took place outside the Norwegian Theater in Oslo. Photo: Extinction Rebellion At Equinor’s headquarters in Stavanger, there are no plans to scrap the project. Ola Morten Aanestad in Equinor believes that extraction of oil outside New Foundland is justifiable: – The impact assessment for Bay du Nord was approved earlier this year by Canadian environmental authorities, who concluded that the development will not have a significant negative impact on the environment. – Is it appropriate to drop this project? – We have not made a final investment decision yet, but hope that it will happen in the next few years and that the field can be in operation during this decade. Press spokesman for Equinor, Ola Morten Aanestad says that the company has received local and national support for Bay du Nord, but understands and respects that there are different views on the project Photo: Equinor The environmental movement gathers against Equinor For a month, environmental organizations from Brazil launched Great Britain, Argentina, Canada and Norway a campaign. It is called “Equinor Out of Oil and Gas Alliance”. Organizations such as WWF, Sierra Club and Ecos de Mar are behind it. They aim to stop a number of new oil fields Equinor will open, including Rosebank in the UK, Bay du Nord and oil and gas areas off the coast of Brazil and Argentina. Tonight, several of these organizations are gathering in Montreal. Cop15, the UN conference on biological diversity, is currently taking place there. Scientists and environmental organizations will discuss how to stop Equinor’s most controversial oil projects. Equinor Out – a number of environmental organizations’ platform on social media for mobilization against controversial oil projects. – Whether it’s Bay du Nord or Rosebank or any of their other proposed projects, we know that oil and gas have no economic future, and yet Equinor is asking our local economies to become more dependent on their doomed projects, says Curtis in Sierra Club Canada. Press spokesman Aanestad believes for his part that it is best for companies such as Equinor to extract the oil. – We understand that many people are impatient in the face of the climate crisis. So are we. But the need for oil and gas will not disappear in the short term, and we believe it is important that responsible companies and projects in the West contribute to a secure oil and gas supply in the decades to come.
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New hope in the fight against Equinor at Cop15 – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
