Unconventional oil and gas in France: From popular distrust to politicization of the underground

Sébastien Chailleux (1, 2) , Julien Merlin (3) , Yann Gunzburger (3)

1 Passages
2 CED - Centre Émile Durkheim
3 GeoRessources

France has a long history in mining and, to a lesser extent, in hydrocarbon extraction, but these industries were both in decline by the end of the 20 th century. Following the American shale boom in the 2000's, there was a sudden renewal of hydrocarbon exploration in 2010 with new exploration licenses being delivered for unconventional oil and gas projects. These projects first remained confined to specialists of such industries until the end of 2010, when a massive social movement opposed shale gas exploration. This paper aims at drawing a picture of this social movement and its narrative work to obtain the ban on hydraulic fracturing by the French government in 2011. We show that i) public and political perceptions of unconventional gas in general were built mostly during the sudden burst of mobilization in late 2010, with the opponent's narratives encountering almost no resistance, ii) previous knowledge and experience with extractive industries in some areas of France facilitates social license there, but it does not guarantee the development of the industry, iii) the controversy about hydraulic fracturing participated to shape negative perception about extractive industries in France in general, including ore mining.

Mots clés: Social movement; Unconventional resources; France; Oil and gas extraction; Hydraulic fracturing; Ore mining; Public policy analysis; Mining extraction; Energy policy

Mots clés: Mobilisation des acteurs

Domaines: Science politique; Sociologie

Sébastien Chailleux, Julien Merlin, Yann Gunzburger. Unconventional oil and gas in France: From popular distrust to politicization of the underground. The Extractive Industries and Society, 2018, 5 (4), pp.682-690. ⟨10.1016/j.exis.2018.05.007⟩. ⟨hal-01985836⟩