mikudagur 19. mai 1999síða 17

Nr. 92 — 19. MAI 1999 tíðindablaðið 17 Jeremy Cresswell frá Aberdeen Press & Journal So er avtalan avtalað. Men tað tók >bert< 20 ár at koma so langt. Tað er sjálvandi lætt at vera spoyskur viðvíkjandi tíðini, tað hevur tikið at fáa eitt kompromis, sum ber til, um markið millum Bretland og Foroyar Um ein lutfalsliga ein- faldur spurningur um at draga eina linju millum tveir friðarsinnaðar norður atlantiskar grannar kann taka so langa tíð, hverjar vónir eru so fyri at røkka semjur, har politikkurin er nógv meira torgreiddur, og har partarnir kunnu vera beinleiðis ósamdir? Her sipi eg sjálvandi til óruddið í Jugoslavia og nærri hjá okkum — Norður- írland. Hinvegin var tað, sum var eitt átrokandi mál fyri For- oyar, heilt greitt ikki so á- trokandi fyri Bretland, sum hevur ein nógv stórri og fjølbroyttari búskap og stórri altjóða áhugamál. Tórshavn noyddist at bíða og bíða — og bíða — og hyggja at, meðan eitt nú BP hevði fleiri væleydnaðar boringar vestan fyri Het- land; Foinaven, Schiehall- ion, Suilven og kanska enn- tá eisini Conival. Tað má hava verið ótrú- liga frustrerandi. Tað góða við markna- semjuni millum Føroyar og Bretland er, at hon tykist vera rímilig. Oljufólk eru fegin. Fiski- fólk eru nøgd. Nógv av markinum er javnfjart. Tað er bert eitt øki, har Bretland sær út til at hava fingið meira burturúr, men tað er lítið. Fyrr umleið fimm árum síðani åkærdu føroyingar bretar fyri at royna at fåa fatur á so nógvum, teir yv- irhøvur kundu, av ti, sum føroyingar sóu sum sitt øki - bølmennistaktikkur, vildi onkur vera við. Um vit ímynda okkum, at London hevði fingið sín vilja, høvdu fiskimenninir hjå hesum partinum av danska rikinum noyðst at funnið seg i, at útlendskir boripallar órógvaðu á fiski- leiðunum. Tann sannroynd, at bert ein atfinningarsom rødd var hoyrd, tå føroyska tingið umrøddi = avtaluna, má merkja, at avtalan eisini hevur verið góð fyri fisk- ivinnuna. Um ikki, høvdu krókapol- itikkararnir (lobbyistarnir) hjá fiskivinnuni uttan at iv- ast gingið ímóti avtaluni. Tað er merkisvert, at atfinn- ingarsama røddin var tann hjá fyrrverandi løgmanni Edmund Joensen. Einum er komið fyri oyrað, at hann helt, at ein betri avtala kundi verið gjørd, hevði bretski forsæt- isráðharrin Tony Blair per- sónliga verið við í samráð- ingunum við danir í Keyp- Føroyar Bretland Ein rimulig marknasemja mannahavn um lagnuna hjå føroyingum. Leiðarin i føroysku sam- rådingarnevndini, Arni Olafsson, eigur at fåa eitt tillukku fyri sitt kvirra å- haldni. Tad tykist ikki vera so langt síðani. at hann segði greinaskrivaranum frá, at hann ivadist í, um nøkur brúkilig semja kom í lag eftir so nógv ár uttan úrslit. Kanska kom veruliga broytingin í bretsku støduni mótvegis Føroyum, tá the Tories (teir konservativu) taptu seinasta valið. Seinni kom so nógv umrødda brævið frá bretska uttanrík isráðharranum Robin Cook til núverandi føroyska løg- mannin Anfinn Kallsberg. Síðani kom meira fyri- reikingararbeiði, og kvirri og lítillátni Arni Olafsson rakk eini semju, hann við vissu kann vera nøgdur við. At royna at røkka eini av talu, sum á øllum økjum er grundað á Geneve-konvent- lónina, og sum fevnir um umleið 40.000 ferkilometr- ar kundi havt tikið fleiri år afturat og inniborið eitt dýrt sakarmál móti Bretlandi við altjóða dómstólin í Haag. Meðan hetta heyði staðið á, kundi Big Oil havt mist áhugan fyri bretska parti- num av økinum við markið Sum nú er, er áhugin mink- andi orsakað av lágum olju- prísum, stórum útreiðslum av royndarboringum og menning, og tí økid ikki hevur verið so ríkt, sum vinnan heyði vónað. Loksins er hurðin opin fyri fyrsta føroyska útbjóð- ingarumfarinum og fyri oljufeløgini at kanna var- hugan av, at ein rúgva av olju og gassi liggja goymd undir stóru basaltfláunum, sum eru í føroysku undir- grundini Ein gevandi fíggjaravtala er í væntu Fyritøkurnar eru serliga óðar eftir at kanna oki í Før- oyar-Hetlandsrennuni, sum kunnu fara tvørturum júst avtalaða markið um Greenpeace og aðrir um- hvørvisfelagsskapir loyva hesum. (Greenpeace hevur fingið loyvi frá Hægstarætti í London at fara í rættin við bretsku stjórnini í sambandi við oljuleitingar vestan fyri Hetland) Eingin eigur at ivast í, at tann sonevndi UK Atlantic Frontier hevur mist sín glans. Hetta økid er dottið langt aftur um Vesturafrika og endurfødda Mexico- flógvan, og Smith Rea En- ergy Analysts vísa á hetta í teirra seinastu meting av meguligum oljukeldum í djúpum sjógvi um allan heimin Ætlanir eru lagdar um brunnar í ár, men bert fáir. og Clair-øki0, sum nógvar vónir vórðu settar til. er framvegis lagt á is, eftir at tað varð steðgað fyri einum ári síðani Beint nú er Mobil har úti á Frontierinum, har teir ar- beiða við Jack Bates — ein Geremy Creswell, ein av fremstu oljujournalistunum í Skotlandi ger viðmerkingar til semjuna flótandi boripallur (>semi submersible«), sum teir annars søgdu frå sær fyri nøkrum mánaðum síðani, tí hann ikki riggaði sum hann skuldi, og Mobil hótti við endurgjaldskravi til fram leiðararnar Jack Bates er ikki langt frá nýggja markinum og byrjaði tann 214/4 | stóra brunnin tann 26. apríl Wood Mackenzie sigur um ao »Førarin leitar eft- ir eini stórari gasskeldu har nordun í kassanum. stutt frá har bretska okið endar Mobil fer uttan iva at halda síni kort tætt inn at sær. Men um nakað verður funnið. og keldan gongur inn á føroyska økid, fara tíðindini kanska at leka út skjótari enn annars av eyðsýndum orsøkum! By JEREMY CRESSWELI Business Editor Aberdeen Press & Journal SO THE deal is done. It only took about 20 years to get there, however. It is of course easy to be cynical aobout the time ta- ken to achieve a workable compromise on the resour- ces beundary between the UK and Faroe. After all, if a relatively simpel issue concerning drawing the line between peacable North Atlantic neighbours can take this long, what hope is there for reaching dials where the politics are far more com- plex and where open con- flict may exist. I am, of course referring to the Yugoslavia mess and, nearer to home, Northern Ireland. On the other hand, what was an urgent matter for the Faroese, was clearly not so for the UK with its much larger and more diverse economy and wider inter- national interests. The deal is done Thorshavn had to wait and wait. and wait...and watch BP for one notch up a string of successes west of Shetland...Foinaven, Schiehallion, Suilven and perhaps even Conival. It must have been horrib- ly frustrating. The good thing about the UF-Faroe boundary deal is that it appears reasonably equitable. Oil folk are happy. Fis- herfolk are appeased. Much of the boundary is equidistant. There is only one sector where Britain appears to have gained the upper hand, but it is modest. Step back five years or so, and Thorshavn was accus- ing the Brits of trying to grasp everything they could of what the Faroese regar- ded as their territory… bully boy tactisc, it was said on some quarters. Assuming London had got its way, then the Danish possession's fishermen would have been forced to put up with foreign oil in- stallations disrupting opera- fishing tions on their grounds. The fact that only one dissenting voice was heard when the Faroese parlia- ment debated the terms of the agreement means the deal must have been fair to the fishing industry. It it was not, the fishery lobby would have put paid to an agreement without hesitation. It is curious that the one dissenting voice was former isles prime mi- nister... Edmund Joensen. One hears that he belie- ved a better deal could have been brokered, had UK PM Tony Blair been presonally involved in talks with the Danes in Copenhagen over the fate of the Faroese Head of the Faroese ne- gotiating team, Arni Olafs- sen, has to be congratulated for his quiet presistence. lt seems not so long since he told the writer that he was dubious about achieving a workable settlement aftar years of getting nowhere. Perhaps the real sea change in terms of the UK attitude to the Faroes boun- dary dispute came when the Tories were chucked out at the last General Election. Later Foreign Secretary Ro- bin Cook's much publi- cisesd letter to current Faro- ese PM, Anfinn Kallsberg. More spadework follo- wed and the quiet, unassu- ming Olafssen achieved a deal he can surely feel com- fortable about. To try and achieve an agreement totally based on the Geneva Convention for- mula and covering some 40.000 square km. could have taken several years more and involved a costly law suit against Britain in the International Court at the Hague. During that time, Bog Oil could have lost interest in the UK portion of the At- lantic Frontier altogether. As it is, that interest is waning against a back- ground of low oil prices, higt exploration and deve- lopment costs, and the fact that the area has not been as prilific as the industry had hoped. At last the door is open to the first Faroese oil and gas licensing round to be launched and for oil com- panies to test the hunch that reserves of crude and gas are trapped beneath the massive basalt shielt that masks much of the sedime- tary rock beneath the archi- pelago and its undersea shelf. An attractive fiscal dial is widely expected. The companies are parti- cularly keen to evaluate tar- gets located in the deeps of the Faroe-Shetland Channel that may straddle the agreed median line... Greenpeace and other members of the environmental lobby per- mitting. (Greenpeace has been given leave by the High Court in London to challenge the British Go- vernment on west of Shet- land). No-one should be in any doubt about the fact that the UK Atlantic Frontier has lost its gloss. It has fallen a long way behind West Af- rica and the reborn Gulf of Mexico and Smith Rea Energy Analysts highlight this fact in their latest assessment of deepwater prospects worldwide Wells are planned this year, but only a few and the hoped for Clair field deve- lopment remains on ice, having been stopped a year ago. Just now, Mobil is out there on the Frontier, wor- king with the Jack Bates. a deepwater capability semi- submersible which the oil company summarily dum- ped a few months ago, alleging deficiences and threatening litigation. The Bates is close to the new boundary and started the 214/4-1 well on April 26. Wood Mackenzie says of the quest: »The operator is believed to be targetting a sizeable gas structure to the north of the block, close to the limit of UK desig- nated acreage« Mobil will doubtless play it cards close to the chest But if a find is made, and it extends into Faroese »geo- space« then maybe news will seep out more quickly than might otherwise be the case for obvious reasons! 3