France's largest gas field goes green

Although the gas is no longer exploited commercially, it is still extracted for industrial use: the Arkéma company, the largest provider of jobs in the industrial basin with some 750 employees, exploits hydrogen sulphide (H2S), which is highly toxic and corrosive. The rest, "clean" gas, is used to supply energy to local sites.

The peak of production of the deposit, exploited from 1951 to 2013, was reached in 1982. Since 2010, the source has been slowly depleting.

“We were aiming for the 2060s for the end, but today we know that we will be able to go a little further because we are drawing a smaller gas net than expected”, explains Patrice Bernos, general manager of the group of public interest ChemParc, dedicated to the development of the complex.

Lacq benefited from a derogation from the law which put an end, in 2017, to the exploration and exploitation of hydrocarbons in France.

At the peak of exploitation, 8.500 employees depended directly on the deposit. They are still 7.500 today, or 24% of local employment.

Patrice Laurent, mayor (DVG) of Mourenx and president of the community of municipalities of Lacq-Orthez, campaigns for the exploitation of this pocket of gas in a context of global energy crisis. "We won't be able to do without carbon energies overnight. There, it's under our feet, we just have to take it and use it."

Lacq, "pioneer territory", must seduce newcomers, agrees David Habib, socialist deputy for the constituency.

In September, elected officials announced that the Lyon-based company Elyse Energy was going to invest 350 million euros in a "green" methanol manufacturing site, which will recover the CO2 emitted by local industries, with 110 jobs created on paper.

"We provide a solution to issuers and we focus on (...) the inevitable carbon, with no alternative", explains Benoît Decourt, director of operations of this SME.

"Acceptability"

At the end of 2021, a photovoltaic power plant, financed by TotalEnergies, entered into service in Lacq. The French giant has also bought a methanizer for the production of biogas, launched in August.

"We have all collectively succeeded in the retraining", affirmed Thierry Renard, representative of the group in Pau, on Wednesday in the daily La République des Pyrénées.

The environmental associations which have been monitoring the discharges and fumes from the Lacq factories for years remain skeptical.

“Rather than solving the problem of existing pollution and emission thresholds that are not respected, we are told that we are going to bring in companies that are greener than each other, while continuing to exploit natural gas. and its derivatives", denounces Cathy Soublès for Sepanso64, affiliated with France nature environnement.

In 2018, the prefecture shut down a Sanofi production site in Mourenx, after a report from this association. Emissions of bromopropane, which is part of the composition of sodium valproate, the active ingredient of the antiepileptic Depakine, greatly exceeded the authorized thresholds.

"The Sanofi case, once revealed, was resolved in four months", points out Cathy Soublès, convinced that "industrialists know how to solve problems once they are up against the wall". A judicial inquiry has been opened for endangering others and the offense of obstructing an authorized agent.

The employees of these large sites are also worried. “We are the first exposed to mutagenic and reprotoxic carcinogens”, underlines Timothée Esprit, representing CGT.

"Companies are hyper-flicted by the Dreal (Regional Directorate for the Environment, Planning and Housing), by the complaints and the pressure put by the Sepanso", answers Patrice Bernos, for whom the degree of "acceptability " of the population has changed.

"The industrial risk was much higher before, but the disadvantages of the industry are less supported today", considers the general manager of ChemParc.