The Canary Islands rebel against Morocco's oil surge: "We are not going to allow it to touch a millimeter of our waters"

The president of the Canary Islands,

, assured this Wednesday that Morocco has begun oil exploration in waters within its jurisdiction that do not affect those of the Canary archipelago.

"The Government of the Canary Islands categorically rejects any oil prospecting in Canary waters. These prospecting and studies that we have learned about have been authorized by Morocco months or years ago," the Canarian president said in statements to the media.

Torres has insisted that these works are not being carried out in Saharawi or Canary waters and has appealed for international legality to be complied with and for "absolute environmental safety" to exist.

The president thus alluded to the announcement by the British company

, which estimates that it could extract more than

according to a document released by the aforementioned company on its website.

Europa Oil&Gas has been drilling Moroccan waters since the Moroccan Government granted it permission to do so at the end of 2019 and with a license to explore this basin for 25 years and a 75% stake.

The remaining 25% corresponds to the Moroccan state company "Office national des hydrocarbons et des mines" (ONHYM), according to data published by the company.

It is not the only foreign company that carries out this analysis and prospecting work in Moroccan waters, since the Italian company Eni carries out explorations in the Tarfaya area, with permission to do so since 2017, when it reached an agreement with ONHYM for the acquisition of exploration permits for a total of 23,900 square kilometers, again on the Atlantic side and in front of the cities of Sidi Ifni, Tan Tan and Tarfaya, as this company has also reported on its website.

This documentation indicates that Eni sold 30% of this license to

, for which it participates in prospecting by 45%, while the Moroccan state company does so with 25%.

Regarding these surveys, Ángel Víctor Torres has assured that "it is good" that there is now a fluid and normalized relationship between the Government of Spain and Morocco "to have all the information and clarify any circumstance that is necessary".

In this way, he asserted, there is "greater security in commercial relations, in those related to migration issues" and, he has opined, there are no longer "unilateral" decisions.

"Situations that arise will be resolved at any negotiating table with the presence of the Government of the Canary Islands, which will be present in any matter between Morocco and Spain that has to do with the waters where the Canary Islands meet Morocco," the Canarian president has said.

"We are not going to allow a single millimeter of Canarian waters to be touched. Neither the Canarian Government nor the Government of Spain. And that is how it has been: not a single millimeter has been touched", stressed Torres, who underlined that the right international "puts on the table" that the waters are subject to international jurisdiction and "no country can take for itself waters from anywhere"

Conforms to The Trust Project criteria

Know more