In 2017, the French government voted to end domestic oil production by 2040. (Data map)

Bordeaux:

Ecological activist Greta Thunberg took part in a protest in southwestern France on Sunday against eight planned oil wells that will theoretically be banned in the country by 2040.

The Stop Petrole Bassin d’Arcachon group, which opposes oil drilling in the area around the seaside resort of Arcachon, claimed that 3,000 people took part in the protest, but police said the actual number was 1,200.

Natalie Herve, a spokesperson for the group, said: “The exit from fossil fuels must start now by rejecting this project.”

Thunberg was in the area after attending a demonstration against a local highway on Saturday, and on Sunday police used tear gas to disperse protesters who blocked a railway line.

The internationally known Swedish activist, wearing a pink raincoat and Palestinian headscarf, did not speak at Sunday’s anti-oil protest, instead dancing and shouting slogans against the fossil fuel industry in French and English.

The wells will be drilled by Canadian company Vermilion Energy, which owns a concession near Arcachon until early 2035. The field has been in production since the 1960s and currently has about 50 wells producing a total of 1,500 barrels of oil per day.

Opponents hope to block the authorization of the project, which has yet to be approved.

In 2017, the French government voted to end domestic oil production by 2040.

In early December, Ecological Transition Minister Christophe Bechu said that as long as France needed oil, “it wouldn’t be too bad if it came from here instead of from the other side of the world”.

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