According to information WSRW received, Total’s massive block offshore Western Sahara was signed on 6 December 2011. WSRW revealed 29 November 2012 that Total is back in Western Sahara, working on behalf of the Moroccan government, which occupies parts of the territory.
The agreement is most probably a reconnaissance agreement – the same kind of agreement that the company held in the same area in the period 2001-2004. It is said that the agreement is valid for a period of 12 months.
This means that the newly discovered agreement will expire in three days from now - Thursday 6 December 2012. Total needs, in other words to assess this week, whether it will let the agreement expire without renewing (as they did in 2004), if they will prolong the agreement, or if they will upgrade it to a full exploration licence.
“Western Sahara Resource Watch calls on all owners of Total to immediately bring this issue with Total's management. They should request both a guarantee that no further exploration activity take place in occupied Western Sahara, and an explanation as to how this could happen in the first place”, stated Erik Hagen, chair of Western Sahara Resource Watch.
Morocco allocates land in occupied Western Sahara to green hydrogen investors
Morocco’s ambitions to become a global green hydrogen powerhouse are accelerating. Yet, Rabat is allocating land in a territory it does not legally own.
US eyes minerals in occupied Western Sahara
Seeking to position itself as a key supplier of strategic minerals for Western powers, Morocco has signed a new agreement with the United States that covers Western Sahara’s waters and the critical minerals harboured there.
TAQA-Moeve obtains land in occupied Western Sahara
Morocco’s push for green hydrogen has taken a decisive step forward - on territory it does not legally own.
EU-Morocco Statement: autonomy without self-determination, law without lawfulness
A joint statement that came out of last week’s EU-Morocco Association Council asks readers to believe in a fiction: that an undefined autonomy plan imposed by an occupying power can satisfy the right to self-determination, and that respect for international law can coexist with the systematic ignoring of the EU’s own highest court.