Léopold Sedar Senghor, President of the Republic of Senegal, written to the CEO of COPETAO (Total)

In 1965, Léopold Senghor wrote a letter to Jacques Nizery, CEO of COPETAO, the Total Oil Company in West Africa. The CFP (Total) has just relaunched oil exploration in Senegal in the maritime zone of its Kolda permit in Casamance, and is seeking the necessary authorizations from the Senegalese authorities to carry out drilling operations.

In this letter, L. Senghor states his support for the drilling project on the continental shelf, "whose success is likely to contribute effectively to the economic development of my country", he writes.

This drilling on the continental shelf is a first for CFP: a platform designed to explore between 7 and 60 metres deep, called Ile de FrancePays FranceShow more, was built in the Netherlands and arrived in Dakar on 14 February 1966. It was inaugurated in the presence of Léopold Senghor and his wife.