Illustration of an oil platform. - Stefano Zardini / REX Shu / SIPA

The French government announced Thursday that it has definitively put an end to maritime oil drilling in France, by refusing to extend a research license off the Eparses Islands, a French archipelago located in the Mozambique Channel.

The government has "refused to extend the exclusive exploration license at sea for" Juan de Nova Maritime Profond ", located off the Scattered Islands", and "there will therefore no longer be any drilling of oil at sea in France" , said Elisabeth Borne and Bruno Le Maire, ministers of the Ecological Transition and the Economy, in a joint press release Thursday. This decision comes a year after the abandonment of the "Guyana Maritime" offshore exploration license, off the coast of Guyana.

Gradual cessation of hydrocarbon exploitation by 2040

The executive passed a law in 2017 prohibiting the issuance of any new hydrocarbon exploration license in France. As the text is not retroactive, this prohibition does not apply to requests that have already been filed and are under consideration.

In addition to the end of exploration, the 2017 text provides for the gradual cessation of the exploitation of hydrocarbons by 2040, in order to "get France out of fossil fuels". Beyond this date, the existing concessions cannot therefore be renewed.

According to the ministry, 64 oil and gas deposits are currently in operation in France, mainly in the Aquitaine Basin and in the Paris Basin, for a total area of ​​4,000 km2. France's oil production represents 1% of its consumption.

"Double-sided government ecology"?

But while French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian is expected to arrive in Mozambique on Saturday, Friends of the Earth pointed out on Thursday that "French operators, including Total, are developing large gas projects there, supported financially by public authorities through export financing ”.

“We are once again witnessing the government's double-sided ecology. Today, they announce the refusal to extend a research permit off the Scattered Islands. Tomorrow, Jean Yves Le Drian is traveling to Mozambique to defend the interests of the French fossil industry, ”reacted Cécile Marchand, climate campaign manager for Friends of the Earth.

Presumed to be rich in hydrocarbons, the Scattered Islands are located between Madagascar and Mozambique, in Africa. This archipelago whose land area represents approximately 7 km2 is the subject of a lively territorial quarrel between Paris and Antananarivo.

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