DAYS BEFORE KYOTO, THE WORLD IS TOLD THAT YET MORE FOSSIL FUEL IS FLOWING - IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN SOLAR

DAYS BEFORE KYOTO, THE WORLD IS TOLD THAT YET MORE FOSSIL FUEL IS FLOWING - IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN SOLAR 27 November 1997 Responding to the news that long delayed first oil had finally been produced from BP's Atlantic Frontier Foinaven field, Greenpeace described the project as a "dinosaur in a solar age." Greenpeace campaigner Robbie Kelman said of the ill-fated project, "It should have been solar. Here we are a matter of days away from the Kyoto summit on climate change, in an era of fossil fuel phase out and this company is crowing about destroying a pristine environment to produce what? - more fossil fuels. What a terrible waste of time, effort and money. This oil has cost BP nearly Ł1 billion pounds to produce. The company's own figures show that a mere one third of that would have created a UK solar 'super' factory to make solar power competitive with fossil fuel electricity." The Foinaven project is the first deep water exploration utilising Floating Platform Storage and Offloading vessel technology in the Atlantic Frontier west of the Shetland Isles. Due to produce its first oil back in the spring of 1996, the company has been plagued by technical difficulties ever since. The deep waters of the Atlantic Frontier are a very hostile environment making drilling and production difficult and dangerous. It is also one of the last pristine environments left on the planet and Greenpeace has campaigned throughout the year to stop further planned exploration of the area going ahead. The organisation argues that to search for new oil at a time when the phasing out of fossil fuels is imperative for climate protection, is not only mindless but unnecessarily damaging to an important wildlife area. Robbie Kelman said, "Climate change is happening now. We need urgent action now. The most important first step is to put renewable energy in place and ready to take over from fossil fuels. This isn't an optional measure it is an essential. Can it really be good business to ignore this global imperative and plough money into oil when what the world needs and will ultimately insist on, is renewable energy?" BP's Chief Executive John Browne has recognised that action should be taken to protect the climate now and that solar can compete with fossil fuels to provide for energy needs. Describing this thinking as at odds with exploration for new oil, Robbie Kelman said, "If companies such as BP are to have a long term future it is as an energy companies, investing in and providing renewable energy. Leave the Atlantic Frontier alone, BP, pull out now and invest in jobs and products with a future." For Further Information
Contact Greenpeace Press Office on 0171 865 8255/6/7/8