A second climate “bomb”, according to its detractors.
Already in the sights of NGOs, TotalEnergies is embarking on a new offshore project.
The group wants to exploit two large gas fields located off the southern coast of South Africa.
An international petition has been launched.
According to the NGO Bloom, which fights against the destruction of the ocean and of fishermen, on September 5 TotalEnergies submitted an application for a production license to exploit two large gas fields, which can contain up to one billion barrels of oil equivalent, located off the southern coast of South Africa.
🚨 To help us fight the destructive project of @TotalEnergies and @PPouyanne in South Africa, please RT this thread and sign our petition.
The fight has only just begun.
#OceanTOTALdestruction https://t.co/bqagwGatvL
Claire
— Claire Nouvian (@ClaireNouvian) October 18, 2022
“TotalEnergies is thus preparing to invest three billion dollars to launch drilling operations in South African deep waters, to the detriment of small-scale fishermen and spectacular biodiversity,” writes Bloom.
The South African authorities, who rely on gas to get out of their dependence on coal, must decide on obtaining this license after a public inquiry scheduled until January 20, according to the associations.
Risks to marine wildlife
Oil and gas development disturbs whales and their prey 'through underwater noise pollution, construction of supporting infrastructure, oil spills, associated shipping and the risk of catastrophic oil spills', say critics. of the project.
"It is a spectacular place from the point of view of biodiversity, which is on the migration route of whales, sperm whales" and where "there are also dolphins, leatherback turtles, seals", defended the president of Bloom, Claire Nouvian during a press conference organized earlier this week.
Other projects challenged in court
NGOs are already trying to stop two "mega projects" of Total.
Tilenga, a drilling of 419 wells in Uganda, a third of which is in the Murchison Falls natural park, and EACOP, for East African Crude Oil Pipeline, the longest heated oil pipeline in the world, intended to transport hydrocarbons from Tilenga to to the Indian Ocean crossing Tanzania for 1,445 km.
For NGOs, these projects are carried out by TotalEnergies in defiance of its "duty of vigilance" on respect for human rights and the environment in its chain of activity, as imposed since 2017 by a pioneering French law.
On this basis, they summoned the group for interim measures in October 2019 and a hearing was held on October 12, a first in France.
NGOs dispute the relevance of this criterion, which does not take into account all the impacts of construction and operation (noise, pollution, traffic, groundwater, etc.).
The group intends to assert that its vigilance plan and the action plans of its subsidiaries are applied.
He underlines the support of the States concerned for these projects, which are the subject of growing criticism in Europe, after having been condemned by the European Parliament, four UN rapporteurs and even the Vatican.
The debates were postponed to December 7, the Paris court having accepted the request for dismissal made by Friends of the Earth and Survival, for lack of time to respond to the written conclusions of the energy group.
