By Ìbùkúnolúwa Dàda
After it discovered oil fields in 2014, Senegal produced its first oil from the Sangomar oil field on June 11th in partnership with the Australian company, Woodside Energy.
The West African country’s first offshore project is located about 100 kilometers south of the capital, Dakar, and aims to produce up to 125,000 barrels per day according to BBC.
Though this production capacity is lesser to oil-producing giants like Nigeria, the new development is expected to boost Senegal’s economy, bringing in billions of dollars and potentially removing it from the list of the 25 least developed nations in the world
As reported by France 24, Petrosen general manager, Thierno Ly, said the start of production marked “a new era” for Senegal’s “industry and economy”.
“We have never been so well positioned for opportunities for growth, innovation and success in the economic and social development of our nation,” he said.
The newly elected President Bassirou Diomaye Faye has promised that the profits would be “well managed” while addressing students.
He added that an “inter-generation fund” has been set up to benefit them and subsequent generations. The Senegalese government also seeks to renegotiate the production-sharing contract as the state-owned oil company, Petrosen has a stake of just 18% in the off-shore project with Woodside holding the rest.
The project, still at its Phase 1 development with 23 wells, has a 1.3 million barrels floating storage capacity at depth of 780 meters and it costs between 4.9-5.2 billion dollars.
Senegal has another oil project at its Mauritanian border, Greater Tortue Ahmeyim LNG project, which is expected to produce about 2.5 million tonnes of Liquefied Natural Gas every year. The project is managed by Senegal’s Petrosen, Mauritanian oil, US firm Kosmos Energy, and British energy giant BP.
