Madagascar Oil and Total drop Africa’s biggest oil sands project
Frik Els | July 1, 2011
Madagascar Oil’s annual report released on Thursday shows the company is scuttling its project with French giant Total to develop a massive oil sand deposit on the island estimated to contain 1.2bn barrels of oil after three years of extensive work. The Bemolanga bitumen deposit adjacent the Tsingy de Bemaraha nature reserve (pictured) was first drilled in the late 1800s and would have cost upwards of $8bn to bring into operation.