Spain “has to find out if it has gas and oil”: minister

Palma.—While national and international opposition to prospecting  being allowed to go ahead in Balearic waters is continuing to mount, the Minister for Tourism, Industry and Energy, Jose Manuel Soria, made it clear yesterday that Spain “can not afford  to not  find out if it is sitting on gas and oil deposits.”
And, he also stressed that, if the environmental impact study concludes that prospecting will pose no threat to the environment, prospecting will go ahead in the Balearics, the Canary Islands and even off Northern Spain.
The statements will come as a blow to the anti-prospecting movement, although there are claims that the environmental impact study is apparently going to recommend that prospecting is not permitted to go ahead.
Nevertheless, under the current economic climate, Soria and central government does not believe the country can afford to ignore discovering whether it has its own sources of  fuel and energy or not.
At the moment, all of Spain’s liqui