The Outlook for the Gas and Oil Industry of Southwest France

TaHE discovery of gas and oil in the foreland of the French Pyrenees has created new hopes for the growing industrialization of southwest France and for the enviable status of national self-sufficiency in fuel. Heretofore, the southwest has been considered particularly short on sub-soil resources, and the development of the area has been handicapped bag the lack of industrial fuel, despite the progress made in utilizing the water resources of the Pvrenees for the generation of hydroelectric power. From the standpoint of national economy, large amounts of fuel coal and petroleum-have had to be imported into France from foreign countries, a situation which became especially serious after World WVar II when foreign exchange was in such short supply and total recovery of France was at stake. To alleviate its long-standing fuel problem, France had begun earlier by establishing a refining industry and by simultaneously limiting the quantities of refined petroleum products which could be imported. Then, with the discovery of gas in southwest France, the government organized a program of extensive exploration (Fig. 1) for petroleum in the Pyreneean foothills and the Aquitaine Basin. The success thus far in finding petroleum and additional pockets of gas has encouraged more intensive exploration. The prospects now seem improved for lessening the almost complete dependence

Business · Fossil fuel · Petroleum industry · Waste management · Engineering · Environmental Engineering · Environmental Science · Global Energy and Sustainability Research · Global Energy Security and Policy · Hydrocarbon exploration and reservoir analysis

• Resource management

  Open Access•James L Wescoat•Progress in Human Geography•1992

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