Petroleum Ministry has on Tuesday finalised a contract signed with British oil giant BP about 3 months ago to explore oil and gas offshore Gambia.
“…This is just the beginning of a long and sometimes difficult journey in the implementation of the license. Signing these instruments is indeed an achievement but they just constitute the foundation,” said Petroleum Minister Fafa Sanyang.
The A1 block currently owned by the BP was initially owned by the Norwegian-listed African Petroleum Corporation until 2016.
The Government claims the African Petroleum Corporation’s license has expired in December of 2016.
Petroleum Minister Sanyang and BP representative Jonathan Evans signed the papers on behalf of their respective parties.
The A1 block reportedly holds up to a billion barrel. The block is not far from neighboring Senegal where big discoveries have been made.
“The document we just signed today is a realisation of years of hard work, dedication and focus by the corporation and stakeholders in the petroleum industry,” said Yaya F Barrow, the managing director of the Gambia National Petroleum Corporation.
“When GNPC was founded in 2003, it was created to be doing exactly what it is doing today; to take charge of government’s participation in industry development.”
The potentials of Block A1 is quite high, according to Jonathan Evans. “That is why we [BP] is increasing our footprint here in the sub-region. We hope to find some success for your country,” he said.
The Barrow administration said it is trying to build up The Gambia’s oil and gas sector as a way of reviving an economy gutted by more than two decades of tyrannical rule under former President Yahya Jammeh, who fled the country in 2017.