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The vessel extracting the oil is moored about 100 kilometers (60 miles) offshore at the Sangomar oil fields. The project aims to produce 100,000 barrels of oil per day
Production has started at Senegal’s first offshore oil project. The Australian group Woodside Energy is the foreign partner in the deal, controlling 82% of the stakes. The newly formed government is aiming to generate more resources from the petroleum sector.
The vessel extracting the oil is moored about 100 kilometers (60 miles) offshore at the Sangomar oil fields. The project aims to produce 100,000 barrels of oil per day. The discovery of oil and gas off the coast of Senegal in 2014 raised hopes that the industry could generate billions of dollars in revenue for the developing country and transform its economy. But the new government, which came to power earlier this year, pledged to review oil and gas contracts with foreign companies, which it described as unfavorable to Senegal.
The exploitation of natural resources, which according to the constitution belong to the people, will receive particular attention from my government, President Bassirou Diomaye Faye said in his first address to the nation in April.
At a rally in Dakar recently, Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko reaffirmed his administration’s commitment to reviewing the contracts and promised that the country’s share will be guaranteed.
Woodside Energy has an 82% stake in the project and the state-owned energy company Petrosen holds the remainder. While Senegal’s fossil fuel output is not expected to be as great as that of bigger producers such as Nigeria, Petersen is expecting the sector to generate more than US$1 billion per year over the next three decades.
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The country also has a liquified natural gas project at the border with Mauritania and extraction is scheduled to begin at the end of this year. The Greater Tortue Ahmeyim LNG project — which involves British energy giant BP, U.S. company Kosmos Energy, Mauritanian oil and gas company SHM, and Petrosen — aims to produce around 2.5 million tons of LNG per year.
