[1]

Download report[2]

BP plays a leading role in advancing one of the world’s biggest carbon bombs, the Vaca Muerta shale mega-project in Patagonia. BP does not carry out fracking in the UK because the practice would “attract the wrong kind of attention”.

This report by Platform with Observatorio Petrolero Sur[3] reveals BP’s role in pushing forward fracking in Patagonia, as well as the company’s history and worrying track record on safety and environmental impacts.

[Download report (pdf).] [4] [Read press release.][5]  [Versión castellana.][6] [7]

BP’s unit Pan American Energy is billed as Argentina’s biggest private oil company. It already runs Argentina’s largest existing oilfield (Cerro Dragon) and is responsible for a quarter of the unconventional gas extraction in Neuquen province. Owned 60% by BP currently, PAE uses its Argentinian minority shareholders – the Bulgheroni family – as its figureheads in Argentina.

Our research reveals:

  • BP’s Argentinian arm PAE plans to have fracked 37 new wells by the end of 2017 on its Patagonian concessions. Most of the wells require 60-80 stage fracking, and some up to 100 stages, meaning a much more complex operation than the standard 16-40 fracs in US shale wells.
  • BP’s flagship concession Lindero Atravesado, where 23 wells are supposed to have been fracked in 2017, overlaps with a town (Vista Alegre) that has passed a resolution to ban fracking, as well as a lake that provides drinking water to the provincial capital Neuquén.
  • PAE’s track record, reviewed by the report, includes an alleged $300 million bribe in 2007 and a series of refusals to admit to and clean up groundwater contamination.
Credit: Martín Alvarez Mulally / OPSur

Credit: Martín Alvarez Mulally / OPSur

Endnotes:
  1. [Image]: http://platformlondon.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/bps-fracking-secrets-ENG-2017-12-06.pdf
  2. Download report: http://platformlondon.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/bps-fracking-secrets-ENG-2017-12-06.pdf
  3. Observatorio Petrolero Sur: http://www.opsur.org.ar/
  4. [Download report (pdf).] : http://platformlondon.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/bps-fracking-secrets-ENG-2017-12-06.pdf
  5. Read press release.]: http://platformlondon.org/p-pressreleases/bp-argentina-fracking/
  6. [Versión castellana.]: http://platformlondon.org/p-publications/bp-fracking-argentina-castellano/
  7.  : http://platformlondon.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/bps-fracking-secrets-ENG-2017-12-06.pdf