Total Is Gearing Up To Start Offshore Drilling In Guyana

Total is gearing up to start its exploration campaign on the Guyanese Maritime license near the coast off the French Guyana coast. The drilling ship has arrived on site ready to begin.

The exploration will be done in full transparency including no drilling operations in the coral reefs. The closets reef is located 18.6 mi (30 km) from the drilling zone and is not coral. A 50-day oceanography survey was performed by scientist in 2017 that included some from the Paris National Museum of Natural History, as shown it is a discontinuous rocky plateau, on the edge of the continental shelf, that present scattered biological communities where hundreds of samples have been taken for study.

The plateau is located 18.6 mi (30 km) from the drilling point and at 328ft (100 m) water depth compared to the drilling point that is 6651.68 ft (2,000) water depth.

Total is ready to report on the progress of its works throughout the drilling process as part of the committee for monitoring and consultation. The commission led by the authorities includes approximately 50 economic and social members.

In 2017 Total held a meeting with several Guyanese towns. The group has also made available to the general public the full file of its exploration project. Including the report for the Environment Impact Assessment, recognized for its quality by the Environmental Authority.

Total is inviting NGO’s who wishes to visit its installations to understand the precautionary measures taken by the company on its drilling rigs but also to open the dialogue.

Total acknowledge there are 200 people on board its drilling ship and the five support vessels around it. Safety is a top priority a perimeter forbids navigation of all unauthorized watercraft within 500 m of the well, in compliance with the current regulation.

With Total playing full transparency we can learn more about drilling in deep waters but also how operators are safely drilling while trying to minimize environmental impact