Canary Islands Government issues official response to Morocco oil prospecting concerns

The Government of the Canary Islands has responded to concerns regarding oil prospecting that is taking place off the coast of Morocco just 100 kilometres from the Islands.

Ángel Víctor Torres, the President of the Canary Islands has reassured the World on Wednesday 20, April, that Morocco has begun oil prospecting in waters under its jurisdiction that do not affect those of the Canary Islands archipelago, as reported by ElMundo.

Credit: Twitter @PresiCan

📽️ @avtorresp: "El Gobierno de #Canarias rechaza tajantemente prospecciones en aguas canarias". Subraya que las prospecciones autorizadas son en aguas marroquíes y resalta la importancia de las relaciones fluidas entre España y Marruecos para evitar decisiones unilaterales pic.twitter.com/yw2V2FfwPv

— Presidencia GobCan (@PresiCan) April 20, 2022

“The Canary Islands government categorically rejects any oil prospecting in Canary Islands waters. These explorations and studies that we have learned about were authorised by Morocco months or years ago”, the Canary Islands President said in statements to the media.
“The situations that arise will be resolved at any negotiating table with the presence of the Canary Islands Government, which will be present in any matter between Morocco and Spain that has to do with the waters where the Canary Islands converge with Morocco”, the Canary Islands President stated.

The news follows the announcement by British company Europa Oil & Gas, stating that they had made one of the biggest oil discoveries in recent years, found off the coast of Morrocco, just a hundred kilometres from the Canary Islands. Europa identified a significant volume of oil equivalent to more than 1 billion barrels of oil in the Agadir basin, in the Inzegane permit.

“We are not going to allow a single millimetre of Canary Islands’ waters to be touched. Neither the Canary Islands’ Government nor the Spanish Government. And this has been the case: not a single millimetre has been touched”, Torres stressed, emphasising that international law “puts on the table” that the waters are subject to international jurisdiction and “no country can take waters from anywhere for itself”.

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