Spain’s Minister of Industry, Energy and Tourism José Manuel Soria was invited today to a business forum, where talked about the canaries islands’ current situation regarding the crisis it is suffering from, on the sidelines of Morocco’s thorough efforts to find oil and gas in the surrounding region.
The Spanish Minister was caught saying that “it would be ‘ridiculous’ if Morocco were to find gas, oil or both first in the shared waters around the southerly Canary Islands, especially keeping in mind that the unemployment rate in the archipelago stands at a worrying 33 percent, 8 percent higher than the national average,” The Locals, a Spanish media outlet reported.
“Just knowing that these [resources] are available adds strength to the Spanish economy,” Spanish daily 20 minutos reported him as saying, relayed by the Locals.
“It’s not that (the Canaries) have suffered because of the crisis, there just isn’t any industry there.” he added.
According to the same source, José Manuel Soria was reported to have said that Spain imports 99 percent of its hydrocarbons, a huge burden on its national economy and that the way to go was to explore oil and gas as there is no way the Canaries can rely for the time being on Tourism alone.
It is worth noting that the president of the Canary Islands expressed last year his objection to Morocco’s oil exploration arguing that environmental impacts may be witnessed, if Morocco persists in its endeavor, on the islands, which relies mainly on tourism activities.
The Moroccan Times.
