Donald A Bennett
Sarah J Burton | 1 Westferry Circus Canary Wharf London E14 4HA |
Dear Ms Burton
In our fax letter of the 20th June we indicated that we would follow up on some of the points you raised in your earlier letter. We have decided to respond to you despite your activities in the Atlantic Margin area which we would suggest are extremely unsafe putting both your activists and the crews of seismic vessels at considerable risk and not contributing to a sensible dialogue on this subject.
I want to re-emphasise to you that Texaco is committed to carrying out all its exploration and production activities in a manner that puts safety and environmental considerations at the top of our priority list. This is our guiding philosophy in all our operations, in which pursuit of best practice, compliance with regulations as a minimum standard, and wide consultation with stakeholders are key factors.
Texaco's Atlantic Margin activities are no exception. They are currently at an exploratory stage, but planning for environmental protection is integral to these activities and future field development strategies. That is why we are participating in extensive joint industry studies to further our understanding of the Atlantic Margin environment and its wildlife. This will establish an area-wide baseline which will also be of value to scientific research and debate. These studies include an extensive seabed survey last year that covered an area larger than Wales, monitoring cetacean movements to gain important new information, and a seabird survey. All this will be made available to government agencies and the scientific community, and will contribute to the continuing evolution of both regulation and best industry practice.
Texaco's environmental management programmes are designed to keep environmental impact from our operations to the lowest level possible, while continuing to contribute to the great benefits which accrue to the UK from our industry's activities in terms of employment, revenue, lifestyle and security of supply.
We believe that the development of the UK oil industry over the last thirty years is a major success story. It has brought enormous economic benefits to this country, supporting some 300,000 jobs throughout the UK, contributing more than £140 billion in taxes and royalties from 1964 to 1994 and ensuring security of supply not only of energy but the raw materials from which thousands of everyday products are derived. The North Sea is now a mature hydrocarbon province and developing reserves in the Atlantic Margin to offset its decline will maintain these benefits for at least another twenty years. Failure to do so would have a serious negative effect on the prosperity of this country. However, it would not have any impact on world energy demand or on hydrocarbon production in areas of the world with huge reserves.
For your information, I attach a copy of a letter sent to your Amsterdam headquarters which sets out in detail Texaco's views on the issue of potential climate change. Additionally I am enclosing a copy of our recently produced Environmental Health and Safety review.
Thank you for sharing your concerns with us. I hope this exchange of views has helped develop a better mutual understanding and would be pleased to meet with you to discuss these important issues further.
Yours sincerely,
 D A BENNETT |