This project is part of Platform’s long-term commitment to support environmental justice struggles at the front lines of oil and gas drilling internationally.
BP does not carry out fracking in the UK where it is headquartered, because “it would attract the wrong kind of attention”. But BP, Shell and a host of other companies are pushing to frack the world’s 2nd largest reserve of shale gas, located in Patagonia, Argentina.
50 local municipalities and two provinces in Argentina have already passed local regulation against fracking. The right of indigenous Mapuche communities to free, prior, informed consent to drilling on their lands is routinely violated, with resistance facing evictions and violent repression. Neighbourhoods near waste sites and silica mines used for shale gas drilling have expressed concerns about contamination.
Drilling for shale gas is not just risky, it is expensive. Big Oil is looking for loans and financial guarantees. The UK government recently announced a new £1bn line of credit guarantees to UK companies operating in Argentina. We fear much of this may go towards fracking in Patagonia.
We’re working to:
- Support communities on the frontline of drilling, and the right to free, prior, informed consent for Indigenous communities;
- Support a vision for a clean, democratic, thriving economy in Argentina;
- Stop UK and European subsidies & financing going to dirty new gas infrastructure.
Maggie from @FossilFreeGM says it best:
'People in Manchester don't want #BP here. We don't want #fracking in our part of the world, and we're in solidarity with people around the world who don't want fracking either.'#BPAGMWatch the full video: https://t.co/VZusKlSmbY pic.twitter.com/ZYLpptjFG7
— Fossil Free UK (@FossilFree_UK) May 21, 2018
To find out more:
“BP’s Fracking Secrets: Pan-American Energy and Argentina’s shale mega-project”
“Vaca Muerta Mega-Project: A Fracking Carbon Bomb in Patagonia”
See the archives for our past work on to support communities fighting for environmental justice internationally – including campaigns in North Africa, the Middle East and the Mediterranean, New Zealand and Ireland, Kazakhstan and Guatemala, Uganda and Congo DRC.
This project is currently supported by Grassroots Foundation and by the EU Development Education and Awareness Raising programme through the Citizens for Financial Justice project. This project has been produced with the financial support of the European Union. Its contents are the sole responsibility of Platform and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union.