ENLARGE Repsol’s drilling program off the coast of Spain’s Canary Islands angered environmental groups. A sign from a 2014 protest, above, reads ‘No to oil companies, yes to renewables.’ Agence France-Presse/Getty Images MADRID— Repsol on Friday said it would abandon drilling off the Canary Islands, ending a year-long conflict that had pitted the Spanish oil company and central government against islanders worried about the effect oil extraction may have on the environment. An exploratory well reaching more than 3,000 meters below sea level found methane and hexane gases but it “lacked the necessary volume and quality to consider future extraction,” Repsol said. The company said it would seal off the well within a week and that it won’t carry out a previously planned second drilling. The well closure puts a cork in a controversial project that began over a decade ago, when seismic studies first suggested there could be […]
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