Twenty Greenpeace activists from Romania, Bulgaria and Czech Republic have protested outside the OMV Petrom headquarters in Bucharest against the proposed Neptun Deep project.
They claim if it becomes operational, it would threaten the EU’s carbon neutrality target, and harm wildlife in the Black Sea. It is scheduled to become Europe’s largest offshore gas drilling project and make Romania the EU’s largest fossil gas producer.
Activists painted ‘No New Gas’ in large yellow letters on the OMV Petrom building. Other demonstrators held banners saying: ‘Don’t destroy the Black Sea’, ‘No future for gas’ and ‘Stop fossil gas’.
\eptun Deep, the first deepwater drilling project proposed in the Romanian Black Sea, is one of many gas infrastructure projects currently under development in Europe.
The Neptun Deep gas transmission pipeline could may be eligible for EU funding.
“New fossil gas projects are incompatible with limiting global heating to 1.5°C. The last thing the world needs is new fossil gas drilling operations – not in Romania and not anywhere else. Fossil gas is a destructive fossil fuel just like oil and coal. To secure a safe and healthy future for all, all new fossil gas projects in the EU need to be stopped now,” said Lisa Göldner, European Energy campaigner, Greenpeace Germany.
“OMV Petrom can’t be trusted. The company refuses to disclose the massive amounts of chemicals that will be dumped into the Black Sea to extract this gas, while daring to tell anyone who will listen that this project has a negative carbon footprint. ..It’s bad for nature, bad for climate, bad for people,” said Alin Tanase, Campaigns Coordinator at Greenpeace Romania.
In Austria last month, 76 scientists joined Greenpeace to call on OMV to stop the Neptun Deep project over climate and pressure on precious marine ecosystems concerns.
Green light for major Black Sea gas project ‘will accelerate the climate crisis’-environmental group
