British-supermajor BP on Tuesday signed a contract with Gambia’s government to explore offshore hydrocarbon potential.
Prior to launching the campaign, BP committed to running an environmental impact study on the A1 offshore block, said Gambian Minister of Petroleum and Energy, Fafa Sanyang.
Block A1 and A4 were previously under an African Petroleum Corporation license, which was annulled by President Adama Barrow’s government in 2017, after they had expired. The two parties are currently undergoing an arbitration proceeding, launched by the company in October 2017. No resolution has been announced. The two blocks are said to contain up to 3 billion barrels of oil and rests just south of Senegal’s SNE find.
Bordered by Senegal, The Gambia is one of Africa’s smallest countries and features an 80Km coastline. Given Senegal’s successful exploration campaigns from 2014 to date, the country hopes to attract international oil and gas players in its six offshore blocks.
President Adama Barrow has committed to reviving the national oil and gas sector, following two decades of Yaya Jammeh’s autocratic ruling, which crippled the country’s economic growth.
BP has not yet communicated officially on this matter.
