Prime Minister says prospecting for gas and oil in Algarve must continue (with video)

“There are contracts that are in place, that have to be fulfilled. There is a prospection that must be done» said today the prime minister António Costa, during the biweekly debate in the Assembly of the Republic, in response to a question by deputy André Silva, from PAN, about the exploration and possible exploration of oil and natural gas in the Algarve.

The prime minister underlined: "it is absolutely essential for the country to know its natural resources and to continue prospecting operations" for hydrocarbons in the Algarve, guaranteeing that "the Government will continue the prospecting work."

Deputy André Silva, from PAN – People, Animals, Nature, after saying that the concessions mean “totally mortgage our tourism sector, namely the beaches”, challenged the António Costa government to have the “audacity to break with the paradigm obsolete” of fossil fuels and the exploitation of resources that can “within” Tourism, which is the “leverage of the other economic sectors in the region” of the Algarve.

The only PAN parliamentarian, for the second consecutive biweekly debate, brought up the controversial issue of concession contracts already awarded to oil companies and consortia, to research and eventually explore hydrocarbons.

In response to the two questions posed by André Silva, the prime minister added that “the country's natural resources are those we already know, from the outset those that provide us with the beaches and sun of the Algarve, but also natural resources that we believe exist and that it is necessary to identify, to know what exists, in what conditions of exploitation exist and how its exploitation is compatible with other values ​​that we cannot and should not sacrifice».

António Costa also said that "there will be a due assessment of the costs and benefits of any step that may be taken in this matter". "We must continue, we must measure, evaluate and we must ensure the compatibility of the different values," he stressed.

"Now, of course, we can neither call into question contracts that are in force, nor put at risk the non-use of geological resources that can be used by the country, without sacrificing other essential values," concluded the prime minister.

Here are the two questions by André Silva and the two answers by António Costa: