Perenco

Background

Perenco Oil & Gas, based in London and Paris, is one of the world’s largest family-owned oil companies. The company is owned entirely by the “discreet” Perrodo family, which was ranked by the Times as the 43rd richest family in Britain in 2021 with a net wealth of nearly £4 billion. [1], [2], [3]

As of June 2021, the company has an interest in 27 North Sea licences and has been an operator in the North Sea since September 2003. According to its website, Perenco processes almost 15 percent of the UK’s natural gas. [4], [5]

The company operates in 15 countries, mainly in Latin America, West Africa, the North Sea, and Asia. [6]

Perenco has been accused on numerous occasions of damaging the environment and impacting the health of communities in which they operate. [12], [13], [14], [16]

Stance on Climate Change

According to its website, Perenco claims that it is “committed to supporting the global effort to reduce the effects of climate change” by reducing its emissions and is “committed to deploying all the resources needed to preserve the environment”. The company also claims that it “records its carbon emissions and discloses them fully to the relevant authorities in each of the countries in which it operates”. [7] 

In a 2016 public OSPAR statement, Perenco stated that its environmental policy included two main goals: “no damage to the environment” and “to minimise our emissions”. OSPAR is a mechanism utilised by 15 Governments & the EU to “cooperate to protect the marine environment of the North-East Atlantic”. [8]

Actions

March 10, 2021

In an interview with The Africa Report, Perenco’s managing director Benoît de la Fouchardière dismissed many of the claims made by NGOs against Perenco, saying: “We are not accountable to organisations that are responsible for our relationships, some of which are essentially based on the pure and simple disappearance of the oil industry”. [9]

De la Fouchardière also described the company’s deliberate shift to buying “mature [oil and gas] fields” put up for sale by other companies, such as those in the North Sea. [9]

January 17, 2021

The Network of Free Civil Society Organisations for Good Governance in Gabon (ROLBG) filed a complaint against Perenco for oil pollution at Etimboue in Gabon, accusing Perenco of “large-scale pollution that has damaging impacts on the environment, [and] on the daily life of the inhabitants of Etimboué who live mainly from fishing and agriculture”. [10], [11]

The complaint came after reports of oil spills in the area in November 2020 and January 2021. Perenco was later charged in the Port-Gentil high court for pollution in Etimboue and is the subject of an ongoing probe into the pollution of Etimboue by the government. [12]

The company stated that it “carries out its mining activities in a responsible and sure way and strives to limit the potential impact of our activities on the local communities and environment,” and admitted that an “incident involving the loss of punctual confinement generated environmental damage at the beginning of the year”. [12]

September 2020

Tunisian NGO Sherpa alleged that Perenco “​​does not publish any information relating to its activities and hides behind shell companies registered in the Bahamas”. The allegation came after a Paris Court of Appeal denied its request to “authorize a bailiff to seize documents at Perenco France’s headquarters” relating to its operations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), where Sherpa and other NGOs have accused the company of causing serious environmental damage. [13], [14]

November 1, 2018

A former official for Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA testified that he received millions of dollars in bribes from “a French Oil company,” which a source later told Reuters was Perenco.  The former financial executive, Abraham Ortega, said he accepted $3 million in bribes to “favour” the company, claiming that it expected preferential treatment from Venezuelan state officials. [15]

December 21, 2015 

After two oil spills caused by a faulty Perenco pipeline contaminated the only water source in Tesoro del Bubuy, Columbia, the National Environmental Licensing Authority (ANLA) required Perenco to close off a faulty pipeline in Colombia at Perenco’s La Gloria site. Perenco reportedly refused the community access to the site to ensure compliance, but told a reporter that it had “adhered to this decision”. [16]

January 14, 2012

El Espectador, a Colombian newspaper, accused Perenco of funding Colombian paramilitary groups and illegally outsourcing work in an attempt to undercut unionising workers. [17]

January 26, 2009

After Peru’s Finance Ministry approved plans for Perenco to extract oil near Ecuador’s border, Indian rights groups accused the company of encroaching on the territories of voluntarily isolated peoples in the Amazon. [18]

Related Organisations

• Oil & Gas UK – Perenco UK Limited is a member of OGUK. [19]

Contact & Address

According to its website, Perenco has three offices in the United Kingdom: [20]

8 Hanover Square
London W1S 1HQ

Furzebrook Road
Wareham
Dorset BH20 5AR

3 Central Avenue
St Andrews Business Park
Norwich 
Norfolk NR7 0HR

Social Media

• “Perenco” on LinkedIn.

Resources

1. “#520 Carrie Perrodo & family,” Forbes. Archive.ph URL: https://archive.ph/X7H4P 
2. Christophe Le Bec. “‘Our success in Africa makes some people jealous,’ says Perenco’s managing director,” The Africa Report. March 10, 2021. Archived July 24, 2021. Archive.ph URL: https://archive.ph/BMBYh 
3. “The Sunday Times Rich List 2021,” The Sunday Times, 2021. Archived July 24, 2021. Archive.ph URL: https://archive.ph/q42f5 
4. “Who Owns the North Sea?,” Common Wealth, July 2021. Archived July 28, 2021. Archive.ph URL: https://archive.ph/Ar0Ag 
5. “UK,” Perenco. Archived July 24, 2021. Archive.ph URL: https://archive.ph/X2Ldo 
6. “Our subsidiaries,” Perenco. Archived July 24, 2021. Archive.ph URL: https://archive.ph/KxlsI 
7. “Climate change,” Perenco. Archived July 25, 2021. Archive.ph URL: https://archive.ph/lsL2H
8. “OSPAR Public Statement,” Perenco, 2015. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
9. Christophe Le Bec. “‘Our success in Africa makes some people jealous,’ says Perenco’s managing director,” The Africa Report, March 10, 2021. Archived July 24, 2021. Archive.ph URL: https://archive.ph/BMBYh
10. Boris Ngounou. “​​GABON: ROLBG files a complaint against Perenco for oil pollution at Étimboué,” Afrik21, January 21, 2021. Archived 28 July, 2021. Archive.ph URL: https://archive.ph/40SoP 
11. “Oil pollution in Gabon: legal actions against the French company Perenco,” PressFrom, January 23, 2021. Archive.ph URL: https://archive.ph/wR0Dc. Republished from “Pollution pétrolière au Gabon: des actions en justice contre la société française Perenco,” RFI, January 23, 2021. Archived January 28, 2021. Archive.ph URL: https://archive.ph/Wvk2y 
12. Chief Bisong Etahoben. “Anglo-French Perenco Oil Company Expresses Commitment To Cooperate In Gabon Etimboue Pollution Probe,” HumAngle, July 24, 2021. Archived July 25, 2021. Archive.ph URL: https://archive.ph/pC4xC
13. “Continuing opacity: the court denies access to information on perenco’s oil activities,” Sherpa, September 17, 2020. Archived July 28, 2021. Archive.ph URL: https://archive.ph/MgJFr
14. “La pétrolière française Perenco mise en cause pour pollution et opacité sur ses activités en RDC,” Sherpa, June 18, 2020. Archived December 17, 2020. Archive.ph URL:  https://archive.ph/t213H 
15. Alexandra Ulmer. “Exclusive: France’s Perenco, Russia’s Gazprombank named in Venezuela graft case – source,” Reuters, November 1, 2018. Archived July 28, 2021. Archive.ph URL: https://archive.ph/oFhyK 
16. Nadège Mazars and Susanna Gendall. “Pollution, Drought and Threats: the Disturbing Cocktail of Colombia’s Oil Industry,” Multinationals Observatory, December 21, 2015. Archived July 29, 2021. Archive.ph URL: https://archive.ph/imzwA 
17. Norbey Quevedo H. “La petrolera Perenco y los ‘paras’,” El Espectador, January 14, 2021. Archived July 29, 2021. Archive.ph URL: https://archive.ph/3HrXD 
18. “Groups say Peru oil project threatens Indians,” The Associated Press via Kim MacQuarrie, January 26, 2009. Archived November 13, 2019. Archive.ph URL: https://archive.ph/840hP
19. “Operators directory,” Oil and Gas UK. Archived on July 27, 2021. Archive.ph URL: https://archive.ph/TLFyk
20. “Contact,” Perenco. Archived March 18, 2021. Archive.ph URL: https://archive.ph/U5cgP