Cayenne (AFP) - French oil giant Total has halted an offshore oil exploration project in French Guiana after months of drilling produced no results.
In December, Total said it would start drilling on a maritime licence covering an exploration area 150 kilometres (93 miles) off the coast of the French territory in South America.
"We did not find any hydrocarbons with this drilling and we stopped operations earlier this week," Olivier Wattez, general director of Total's local affiliate TEPGF, told AFP late Wednesday.
He said the company had authorisation to carry out five drilling operations, but the first had to be conclusive for it to continue work on the rest.
The licence expires in June, but Wattez said Total could no longer apply for an extension or another licence because of a 2017 law progressively phasing out oil and gas exploration on French territory.
The permit covered 24,000 square kilometres beyond the Guyanese continental shelf, and the drilling area was at a depth of 2,000 metres.
The project had faced challenges from environmental groups concerned over potential damage to coral reefs and marine life.
Neighbouring Suriname and nearby Guyana have recently discovered large offshore oil reserves attracting interest from energy giants like US company ExxonMobil, BP and Norway's Statoil.
