While Canary Islands President Paulino Rivero said that he was going to support oil prospecting as part of his political policy, now he says that ocean explorations "seriously threaten our region's survival." Before he said the development would be "profitable," and now he says that it would be "destructive."
Rivero is trying to convince primary shareholders from Sacyr and La Caixa to suspend the project. The Canary Island leader has already met with Sacyr's CEO, Manuel Manrique, and he plans to meet with La Caixa leader Isidro Fainé on July 21. This shift in opinion might be a maneuver to win political appeal from voters, who are unhappy with the idea of oil companies digging offshore. Rivero is trying to buy some time in order to prepare a referendum and get a new opinion on the quality of oil reserves in the Canaries, which could suspend digging there. It looks like a populist movement is threatening an economic opportunity, which is not as threatening as people make it out to be, in a country that depends on other nations for over 75% of its energy.
Finding new energy holdings in the Canaries would bring a new wave of jobs and economic growth. But the government should demand that the oil companies have good economic practices in order to keep citizens calm. Oil explorations are never free from risks, but technological improvements and deep experience at companies such as Repsol provide an added level of assurance for the explorations in the Canary Islands.