The National Entity for the Fuel Market (ENMC) will promote a public clarification session on oil prospecting and research in the Algarve, on January 12th, next Tuesday, at 18 pm, in the auditorium of the Escola Superior de Health of the University of Algarve, in Faro.
The authority that regulates the sector says it wants to "help a more complete clarification of public opinion, helping to demystify some incorrect ideas that have been made public on the subject of oil prospecting and research in the Algarve."
To this end, "it has invited all concessionaires to join this clarification session, so that the information to be transmitted to the public is as complete and in-depth as possible."
The holding of this meeting, open to the population in general, had already been announced by the president of ENMC Paulo Carmona after the meeting he held with mayors of the Algarve, at AMAL – Comunidade Intermunicipal do Algarve, in December. At the time, the head of the regulatory body was received with a protest that brought together a few dozen people.
Upon leaving the meeting with the mayors, Paulo Carmona had also left the guarantee that «no prospecting action is foreseen through Fracking or any other unconventional method, in the Algarve». The perspective of using this method, also known as hydraulic fracturing, made the tone of the opposition to oil extraction, offshore and in continental territory, in the Algarve region, to rise significantly.
Another central point of the protests is the alleged lack of transparency around the entire process of creating and awarding concessions, something ENMC denies.
«Soon after the signing of the concession contracts, ENMC made its full content available on its website and also during the month of October asked the Intermunicipal Community of the Algarve to hold a meeting with all the Mayors to clarify in a clear way all the issues that are at stake in relation to oil prospecting and research in the Algarve», said the entity.
However, there was no information prior to signing the contracts.
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