2024-01-11 01:01:21
Will we authorize new oil drilling in the south-west of France? While the decision of the prefect of Gironde is expected within a few weeks, the debate on local oil production has been relaunched. Because yes, France produces oil, but not beyond 2040.
In France, the production of oil is located in the Parisian basin and the Aquitaine basin. On average, between 14,000 and 15,000 barrels are produced each day. But it is far from being enough to meet national demand: it is estimated today that only 1% of the oil consumed in France is French, the rest is imported from the four corners of the world: the Middle East, from Africa or the North Sea.
Vermilion number one in France
« Oil giants like Total or BP are not interested in France », Explains Francis Perrin, research director at Iris. “ The resources are too weak, the development potential not significant enough. This is why, continues the researcher, in France we only find small companies capable of exploiting deposits of their size. ».
Among them, the Canadian Vermilion occupies the number one position. It produces between 60 to 70% of French oil.
2040, the end of hydrocarbon exploitation in France
But for these tankers, time is running out. The Hulot law promulgated in 2017 sets the end of hydrocarbon exploitation in France at 2040. If the text already prohibits the issuing of new permits, it does however authorize oil tankers to continue operating on concessions granted before 2018.
It is for this reason that the Vermilion company could drill eight new wells on the Cazeaux deposit in the La Teste-de-Buch forest. The Gironde prefecture has until the end of February to issue the authorization or not.
« Circuit court »
On site, the new drilling project arouses the anger of environmental associations. They are concerned about the consequences on the environment in a region ravaged by fires in the summer of 2022. They also denounce the double language of the French authorities at a time when the world is committed at COP28 in Dubai to a gradual exit from fossil fuels.
In November, the government responded to them with the modest size of these new drillings. And put forward the “short circuit” argument: it is better, said the Minister of Ecological Transition, to produce oil locally than to import it from the other side of the world.
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