Greenpeace: Gas Companies Must Stop Turning Adriatic Sea into Garbage Dump

Zagreb, 5 December 2023 - Greenpeace activists from Croatia, Hungary, and Slovenia installed a 6-meter sculpture Artistic Reef this morning at INA’s headquarters to mock the company’s ridiculous idea of leaving its sunken Ivana D gas platform in the Adriatic Sea as an artificial reef. Greenpeace claims INA not removing the hundreds of tonnes of steel from the seabed is nothing else than disgraceful negligence and scandalous irresponsibility.

To wit, in September 2021, the State Inspectorate of the Republic of Croatia (SIRC) ordered the extraction of the sunken structure within a year [1], and similar opinions were expressed by various authorities, including the Office of the Ombudswoman. Yet the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development keeps tolerating this protraction, allowing INA to buy more time and save millions of euros.

"By procrastinating on the final decision regarding the fate of Ivana D, the Ministry not only protects the company's interests at the expense of climate and the environment but also sends a message that similar inaction with other platforms will be tolerated. With 19 remaining offshore gas platforms and, according to announcements, nine more planned, this could set a dangerous precedent that easily turns the Adriatic into a garbage dump for INA's gas platforms," said Petra Andrić, campaigner with Greenpeace in Croatia.

Official actions reported so far regarding the sunken platform have been “few and far between”. Following the incident, a Commission for the Investigation of the Major Accident was established, but neither the members of this Commission nor the decisions made so far are known. The Ministry fails to transparently and regularly inform the public about this case. Greenpeace has requested the Ministry to disclose all studies and decisions made, but we have received neither a response nor public access to the materials. 

Dr Axel Luttenberger, professor of maritime law at the Faculty of Maritime Studies in Rijeka, joined Greenpeace’s press conference and addressed the legal aspect of this case:

"There is no international, European, or Croatian law that approves the use of the seabed as a disposal site for industrial waste. In this case, the liable party, namely INA, is known as the operator responsible for bearing the costs of environmental damage resulting from the collapse of the fundamental structure of the offshore facility. According to the Barcelona Convention [2], which regulates protection against pollution from the exploration and exploitation of the continental shelf, seabed, and subsoil, sanctions are stipulated for violations of obligations or non-compliance with national laws or regulations. In this instance, the operator of the offshore facility failed to maintain it, which resulted not only in partial but total damage due to the collapse and sinking of the fundamental structure. The state's response to the harmful incident indicates procrastination, as no environmental impact study on the collapse and sinking of the offshore facility has been conducted. The state is obligated to demand remediation measures from the operator responsible for the damage; otherwise, INA is enjoying significant financial resources in the form of unlawful state aid," said Dr Luttenberger.

Referring to the self-commissioned studies, INA has long been publicising the idea that the rusty platform should be transformed into an artificial reef that would improve the flora and fauna of the underwater world.

"There will always be marine species that attach themselves to, or congregate around, man-made structures, but this is not always a positive for the natural ecosystems in which they are located and is certainly no excuse in itself to leave obsolete platforms in place. Constructing a true artificial reef can make sense when it is properly designed, built, installed and monitored for this purpose only, and if it can be removed if the intended benefits are not realized. By contrast, abandoning Ina's platform would create no more than a reef of convenience” - said Dr David Santillo, marine biologist and analytical chemist from the Science Unit of Greenpeace International, based in Great Britain. 

As part of this initiative, Greenpeace has launched a petition urging the Government of the Republic of Croatia to order INA to urgently and unequivocally remove the sunken structure of the Ivana D platform from the bottom of the Adriatic Sea. According to a public opinion survey conducted by the Promocija plus agency on behalf of Greenpeace in June 2023, an overwhelming 74 percent of Croatian citizens believe that Ivana D should be removed from the bottom of the Adriatic Sea.

The fossil fuel industry, including INA, is generating windfall profits and planning to build new fossil infrastructure that will 'cement' us in the fossil age, while we already all suffer from the relentless advance of climate change. For decades, the fossil fuel industry has been well aware that it bears the greatest responsibility for the climate crisis but intentionally conceals the truth and seeks to discredit scientific evidence to continue its dirty business, which brings in enormous profits," concluded Andrić.

Notes

[1] - SIRC Decision on the Removal of Deficiencies, CLASS: UP/I-310-09/21-10/4 and REGISTRATION NUMBER: 443-01-12-21-2 of 24 September 2021, ordering the remediation of the IVANA D-1 DIR rig and the removal of related infrastructure, whose oil and mining operations have been completely and permanently suspended. The directive also mandates the removal of the offshore exploitation facility IVANA D from the seabed within one year from the date of receiving the decision.

[2] - Protocol for the Protection of the Mediterranean Sea against Pollution Resulting from Exploration and Exploitation of the Continental Shelf and the Seabed and its Subsoil (Official Gazette - International Treaties, No. 13/17), also known as the "Offshore Protocol”, and part of the Protocol for the Prevention of Pollution of the Mediterranean Sea by Dumping from Ships and Aircraft or Incineration at Sea (Official Gazette – International Treaties, No. 17/98), also known as the "Dumping Protocol”.