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BP Chairman: “fracking is a great opportunity” but don’t ask us about the risks

21 May 2018 anna

Today I attended BP’s annual shareholder meeting alongside Fernando Cabrera from OPSur (Argentina).

Fernando came to challenge BP’s board on the dangers from their fracking operations. BP’s Argentinian arm Pan American Energy is using fracking frighteningly close to Patagonia’s freshwater supplies and fruit orchards (see our report “BP’s Fracking Secrets” for more on this). Here’s BP’s response…

BP Chairman: fracking is a great opportunity but don’t ask us about the risks

According to BP’s chairman Carl Eric Svanberg, fracking “is a great opportunity for Argentina”, as well as being a safe, “accepted technology”.

But Svanberg tried to absolve BP’s board of any responsibility, saying that if we had any concerns about the company’s plans, we should address them to the management of Pan American or the Argentinian government.

Just a few years ago BP CEO Bob Dudley conceded that the company wouldn’t frack in the UK because this would bring them “the wrong kind of attention”. This attention is needed now more than ever, with BP attempting to break open one of the world’s biggest shale gas reserves.

 

Legacy of violence in Colombia

BP’s board was also asked if it would disclose documents from the time it allegedly funded Colombia’s military and paramilitary group violence against trade unionists and community activists, and how it would repair the legacy of violence and poverty.

BP’s board confirmed that they would answer questions from the truth and reconciliation commission in Colombia. But on the second point…

Hear more from Fernando Cabrera and Fabian Laverde in this video by BP Or Not BP:

BP can’t get away with its ridiculous pretense of planning for a low carbon future – while continuing to devastate communities and pushing to burn one of the world’s biggest reserves of carbon.

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