Is Paris Gushing? The Eiffel Tower of Paris has always looked a bit like oil derrick. Now a consortium* of
French energy
companies led by Société Nationale Elf Aquitaine is exploring the possibility that there may actually be oil under the city''''s venerable streets. Last week four 14Y2-ton trucks completed a series of seismic tests that took them lumbering down the Champs Elysees and past such
landmarks as the Arc de Triomphe. the Place de Ia. Concorde and the Louvre.
Since pockets of oil were first discovered on the outskirts of Paris nearly 30 years ago, oil! companies have suspected that further deposits might Lie under the city it self. If significant amounts of crude are found beneath any of Paris'''' Landmarks districts, drilling could be done at a 45070 angle, and thus the wellhead might be situated nearly two miles away. Elf Aquitaine spokesmen claim that the drilling equipment could be hidden behind fake building façades.
(Time, December 8,1986)
by Fausto Fabio de araujo