The Greenpeace Atlantic Frontier campaign focuses on an area of the North East Atlantic, West of the Shetland Isles and South West beyond Rockall, which is currently being explored and developed for new oil. The area itself is a near pristine stretch of deep ocean. Until very recently oil reserves at extreme ocean depths had remained inaccessible. Now new technology is being tested which could open up the world's deep oceans for oil extraction.

Greenpeace Argues that Searching for "New" Oil is Madness.

Climate scientists from the United Nations (UN) have identified a safe limit for climate change. Going above that limit will, the scientists predict, result in irreparable changes to our ecosystems.

Calculations based on the UN data show that we cannot afford to burn even a quarter of the oil reserves we already have. To explore for more new oil will only cause pointless destruction of a pristine area to produce oil we can never afford to burn. Why do that? argues Greenpeace, when what is needed is a planned phase out of the use of fossil fuels, and a switch to positive investment in cleaner renewable energy such as solar power.

Tony Blair, Michael Meacher and Robin Cook have all called for action against climate change - yet the Government continues to encourage oil companies to exploit the Atlantic Frontier and look for new oil.

The Rockall Connection

The distant granite outcrop of Rockall, 250 miles out in the Atlantic, is the linchpin in Britain's plans to exploit a large part of the Atlantic Frontier for oil.

Ownership of the waters and seabed around this piece of old volcano confers the rights to the vast oil reserves which lie beneath it. Four countries, UK, Ireland, Denmark and Iceland are currently in dispute over the Rockall area. In other countries of the world such territorial disputes have even led to violent battles - showing the lengths to which countries will go to exploit oil.

The British Government has been financing and encouraging oil exploration in the Atlantic Frontier including the Rockall Trough and Plateau since at least 1969. In June 1975, the same month that the first North Sea Oil was pumped ashore, the UK government staked its claim to Rockall by landing two royal marines on it. Later, in May 1985, Britain announced its Ninth Round of licensing for oil development including the `frontier' area of the Atlantic.

In 1997 the activities of the British Geological Survey (BGS) include a "major multi-disciplinary study of the Rockall Margin by BGS and a consortium of oil companies."

Generous tax breaks encourage oil companies to begin extracting oil in the Atlantic Frontier, previously considered to be uneconomic. "The British tax regime is generally considered to be very favourable. New fields approved for development since 16 March 1993 are exempt from Petroleum Revenue Tax (PRT) and are only subject to Corporation Tax. Government Royalties are not chargeable on fields approved for development after 1 April 1982," said industry analysts Smith Rea and Energy Information Services in a study of the potential for oil and gas development in the Rockall trough.

A New Role for Rockall

Rockall marks the site of a major oil reserve. But Greenpeace believes it has a wider relevance. Rockall, and its oceans, is the point where Governments must draw a line and face up to their responsibility for the protection of the global commons of our air and sea. The oil must be left where it is in order to prevent dangerous climate change.

Small and apparently insignificant, Rockall could be the first place to enjoy a policy of non-development. If the four countries disputing its ownership elect to declare it a global commons, belonging not to any one of them, but to everyone, Rockall could be a turning point for a safer future. If not - Rockall's most lasting fame will be as the marker for Britain's last insane push for oil, regardless of the consequences.

For further information contact: