£6bn pipeline threatens endangered whale

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Independent
By Saeed Shah
17 February 2005


A massive oil and gas drilling project planned by Shell off the eastern coast of Russia could lead to the extinction of the Western Pacific grey whale, a report has warned.

The study, commissioned by the oil company itself, recommended operations be halted in the oil and gas fields off the north-eastern coast of Sakhalin Island. The project, which will cost $12bn (£6.4bn), is thought to be the biggest private-sector energy scheme in the world.

A consortium led by Shell is seeking some $5bn of public cash to help fund the initiative, including money from the British taxpayer. The Department of Trade and Industry's export credit guarantee scheme and the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development, which is based in London and partly funded by the UK government, are among leading potential backers of the project. The independent report, by the highly respected IUCN-World Conservation Union, said there were only about 100 western grey whales left, leaving the species "on the edge of survival".

The study said: "It is particularly unfortunate the only known foraging grounds for the population lie along the north-eastern coast of Sakhalin Island, where existing and planned large-scale offshore oil and gas activities pose potentially catastrophic threats to the population."

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