Shake Yer Booty: Oil exploration in Alcúdia

All the talk of the need for there to be diversification away from tourism, and the last thing you might expect is that not only could there be some but also that it will be in the form of oil - as in oil exploration and drilling. According to researchers at the Spanish oil giant, Tonto S.A., there are huge deposits of oil waiting to be tapped under the seabed in the Bay of Alcúdia between Alcanada, at one end of the bay, and Cap Ferrutx at the other. So much oil in fact that it could totally transform the Mallorcan economy from one reliant on tourism into one akin to Saudi Arabia.

The questions are when drilling might start and what, before the oil might flow, it might all mean for the tourism industry on the bay. Tonto could be erecting the first rigs as soon as this year's tourism season finishes at the end of October. Local hoteliers and restaurant-owners are, you might imagine, aghast at the news. It is predicted that it would take at least three years before any oil could be extracted; three years of the rigs and no discernible benefit and only potential harm to the tourism industry. Moreover, there is talk of a refinery being built near to the commercial port in Alcúdia, which will need to undergo massive redevelopment - on top of that which it has recently experienced - to cope with super-tankers. The idea for a science and technology museum, which we believed was to be rising from what eventually will be the ashes of the old power station, would be scrapped, and in its place would be Alcúdia's own Milford Haven.

As a response to the possible blights on the horizon and all the upheaval to the port area, some humour is already surfacing. Someone said that they could refine the oil for use in Pa amb Oli - oil fresh from the bay; something new for restaurants to advertise in addition to fish from the bay. There are also suggestions that the boats from the port could stop off at the rigs; doubtless, there will be some concessions for a café or two in the middle of the sea. Rather than Can Pedro or the like, the café-restaurant could be Petrol Can Pedro - ho, ho. The much-vaunted "estación náutica" (nautical station), which is a branding exercise that Alcúdia is meant to have been undergoing but which seems to have been forgotten about, will be abandoned in favour of "Alcúdia - nautical petrol station". With a nod in the direction of both the Arabic overtones of oil and the vast sums that are likely to be made from the new exploration, someone else has suggested a new nightclub - Shake Yer Booty. An old joke, it must be said, and Frank Zappa once did an album with a more obvious Arabic name (Sheik Yerbouti), but they don't know much about Zappa in these parts, unless it's the national president - José Luis Zappa-tero.

There again, some doubt has been cast as to whether the oil rigs will ever appear; huge colossi beyond the yellow buoys, the area of water currently reserved for boats and watersports. Tonto, it's said, have a reputation for making these sorts of claim. And mysteriously, there seems to be some reluctance in governmental circles to confirm or not the exploration. The regional government's minister responsible for maritime matters was unavailable for comment yesterday as he had taken himself off to Menorca for the Easter break and to enjoy what, in Menorca, is the "día de engañar", something which is not celebrated in Mallorca - usually.


Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.