Gibraltar Opposition Party Calls For Open And Transparent Study on LNG Bunkering Plans

The party said that the LNG plans had been presented without an accompanying public safety assessment.

The Gibraltar Social Democrat (GSD) opposition party is calling for the government to be "open and transparent" about a proposed liquefied natural gas (LNG) storage installation, having accused the government of deliberately confusing LNG plans with an existing power station project, local media reports. 

Along with claims that the government is planning to allow a private company to build the LNG facility in exchange for LNG bunkering rights, the party said that the LNG plans had been presented as an addition to a planned duel-fuel gas and diesel power plant without an accompanying public safety assessment.

“Indeed, if the HSE had provided a detailed report on the safety aspects of a bunkering capacity LNG Installation, why would the Government still be waiting for outstanding risk assessments which, worryingly, do not appear to have been commissioned from independent third parties but by those parties which may themselves stand to profit from the LNG bunkering operations?” said the GSD. 

According to the party, the government has maintained that the power station was cleared by the British Government Health and Safety Executive (HSE), though a safety study was likely not available when HSE representatives visited Gibraltar in January 2014.

"The reports should cover all gas cloud models, risk blast assessments and any other impact consequence assessment showing the impact of an accident to life and property of those living in the western face of Gibraltar," said a GSD spokesman.

"Let people decide whether they wish to suffer those consequences, however small the risk."

The comments follow a statement last week by the Gibraltar government saying that LNG bunkering is both safer and cleaner than diesel bunkering, which came in response to earlier GSD accusations over the LNG facility.