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Since taking office in April, Senegal’s president has been keen to renegotiate with foreign operators.
Senegal’s new government has set up a committee to begin reviewing various gas and oil contracts signed with the previous government, the prime minister announced.
Ousmane Sonko announced the move on state television on Monday, months after President Basilu Diomaye Faye, who won a landslide election in March, announced plans to renegotiate a decade-old fisheries agreement with the European Union. Faye said the decision was part of efforts to restore marine resources and restrict industrial fishing vessels to improve the country’s food security.
According to Sonko, the committee is composed of experts in the fields of law, taxation and energy who will work to restructure the contract to suit the best interests of the country.
President Faye pledged sweeping economic reforms after taking office in early April, saying his government would prioritize the development of the country’s natural resources. The 44-year-old former tax inspector ordered an audit of the oil, gas and mining sectors to reveal ownership as one of his first policy actions. He vowed to renegotiate contract terms with foreign operators in the country if necessary.
Authorities in the former French colony have not yet provided details of the audit or any renegotiation plans.
Read more: African leaders call for review of relations with EU
However, Prime Minister Sonko said on Monday that the government remained committed to fulfilling its promises. “It’s clearly in the national interest to revisit these different agreements and try to rebalance them.”
According to him, the established committee will have sufficient resources to review contracts and hire foreign experts if necessary.
The African country did not join the ranks of oil producers until June, when Australian company Woodside Energy announced the start of production at its first offshore project in Dakar. The Sangomar oil and gas project is expected to produce about 100,000 barrels of oil per day.
BP also plans to start producing natural gas at the Greater Tortuaga Ahmein (GTA) LNG project project The project, located on the maritime border between Mauritania and Senegal, is expected to be completed by the end of this year. BP called the project one of its largest ever and said it would produce up to 2.3 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas per year to help meet global demand and boost economic development in the two African coastal countries.
Last month, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov and President Fayet also discuss At the meeting in the Senegalese capital Dakar, the two sides discussed joint projects in the fields of energy, mining and mineral processing.
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