Plans for gas drilling trigger concern in Canaries

News that an Israeli energy company has been granted permission to drill for gas south of the Canaries has prompted political as well as environmental concerns in the islands.

Media here report today that NewMed Energy is to work in partnership with Moroccan firm Adarco Energy to explore potential gas deposits in a massive area of nearly 30,000 km2.

The prospect of extensive drilling some 240 km south of Gran Canaria has raised not just environmental fears in the Canaries – a region that has mobilised in the past to block offshore explorations for oil and gas – but also major political concerns. The reason is that Morocco has granted permission for the perforations of the sea bed in an area which many consider belongs to Western Sahara, a disputed territory off north-west Africa over which Morocco exercises de facto control even though the legal status of the territory has not been settled despite half a century of conflict.

The drilling permit could see a legal challenge brought similar to that which led to the annulment in October 2024 of the lucrative fisheries agreement signed between the European Union and Morocco. The European Court of Justice determined that the agreement, which permitted European vessels to fish in Moroccan-controlled waters off the coast of Western Sahara, was concluded without the required approval of the Sahrawi people.