Communication from the French Government concerning Directive 94/22/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on the conditions for granting and using authorisations for the prospection, exploration and production of hydrocarbons (1)

(Notice regarding applications for exclusive licences to prospect for oil and gas, designated the ‘Guiana UDO Licence’ and ‘Guiana Maritime SHELF Licence’)

(Text with EEA relevance)

2013/C 47/06

On 18 August 2011, Total E&P Guyane Française SAS, a company with registered offices at 2, place Jean Millier, La Défense, 92400 Courbevoie (France), applied for two exclusive five-year licences, designated respectively the ‘Guiana Maritime UDO Licence’ and the ‘Guiana Maritime SHELF Licence’, whose areas are yet to be defined, to prospect for oil and gas on the continental shelf off the French overseas department of Guiana.

The perimeters of the areas covered by these licences are made up of the meridian and parallel arcs successively joining the vertices defined below by their geographical coordinates, the original meridian being that of Greenwich and the geographical coordinate system used being the World Geodetic System, as revised in 1984 (WGS84).

Location of the UDO Licence

A to B: limits of the French exclusive economic zone;

D to E: dividing line between the French and Brazilian continental shelves;

E to F and L to M: 3 000-metre bathymetric contour;

N to A: dividing line between the French and Surinamese continental shelves, to be determined.

Location of the SHELF Licence

AF to AG: dividing line between the French and Brazilian continental shelves;

AG to AH: limit of the French territorial waters, 12 nautical miles off the coast;

AH to A: dividing line between the French and Surinamese continental shelves, to be determined.

Submission of applications and criteria for awarding rights

The initial applicants and competing applicants must prove that they comply with the requirements for obtaining licences set out in Articles 4 and 5 of Decree No 2006-648 of 2 June 2006 on mining rights and underground storage rights (Official Journal of the French Republic, 3 June 2006).

Interested companies may, within 90 days of the publication of this notice, submit a competing application in accordance with the procedure summarised in the ‘Notice regarding the granting of mining rights for hydrocarbons in France’ published in Official Journal of the European Communities C 374 of 30 December 1994, p. 11, and established by Decree No 2006-648 of 2 June 2006 (as amended) concerning mining rights and underground storage rights (Official Journal of the French Republic, 3 June 2006).

Competing applications are to be sent to the Ministry of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy at the address indicated below. Decisions on the initial applications and competing applications will be taken within two years of the date on which the French authorities received the initial applications, i.e. by 29 July 2013 at the latest.

Conditions and requirements regarding performance of the activity and cessation thereof

Applicants are referred to Articles 79 and 79.1 of the French Mining Code and to Decree No 2006-649 of 2 June 2006 on mining and underground storage operations and the regulations governing mining and underground storage (Official Journal of the French Republic, 3 June 2006).

Further information can be obtained from the Ministry of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy at the following address:

Direction générale de l'énergie et du climat, Direction de l’énergie, Bureau exploration et production des hydrocarbures, Grande Arche, Paroi Nord, 92055 La Défense cedex, France (tel. +33 140819529).

The abovementioned laws and regulations can be consulted on the Légifrance website: http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr

(1)  OJ L 164, 30.6.1994, p. 3.