Last week, Loulé’s Administrative Court ruled in favour of the Algarve Fossil Fuel Free platform’s (PALP) injunction and suspended the license (TUPEM permit) for the ENI / GALP consortium to drill for oil off Aljezur.
On Tuesday this week, the Directorate-General for Natural Resources, Security and Maritime Services (DGRM) issued a statement saying that it has appealed the decision.
Following the announcement of the court’s acceptance of the injunction, the ENI / GALP consortium assured Lusa News Agency that it “always complied scrupulously with the legislation and the authorities’ determinations” with regard to the permit for oil prospecting off Aljezur and was “evaluating this decision and its options”.
The TUPEM issued by the DGRM covers the exploration phase and is a requirement that results from compliance with the legal regime of maritime spatial planning.
The DGRM explained that “this permit does not involve any decision regarding the authorisation of production of the resources that may be detected” and feels that PALP’s injunction has “called into question the legality of the act and the procedure adopted by this General Directorate when the TUPEM was issued”.
“The legal adviser appointed in the case, whose duty it is to defend the position adopted by the DGRM, considered that there is a technical-legal basis for bringing an appeal to the Central Administrative Court”, the DGRM announced, without specifying the date on which the appeal was lodged.