Senegal Declines to Renew Indie's Licence

Oslo-listed explorer African Petroleum Corp said December 18 that its Senegal Offshore Sud Profond (SOSP) production-sharing contract (PSC) expired December 15 2017; it fears this is part of a wider exclusion policy.

It had applied for its first renewal phase to be extended into a second phase and held several meetings with the relevant authorities in Senegal to support its application, and thought it would succeed.

Recently it said the new energy minister had told it that all decisions relating to amendments to PSCs are being deferred until a new Petroleum Code is issued, likely in Q2 2018.

However African Petroleum in its December 18 statement said it “notes recent media reports stating that the ministry of energy has outlined a change of policy that only major companies will be considered for new PSCs in Senegal going forward.” The company added: “Such a policy has clear negative implications for smaller exploration led companies.” 

Kosmos and Cairn have made significant finds offshore Senegal and Mauritania in the past three years, respectively of gas and oil.  Earlier this year Total was granted acreage offshore Senegal already claimed by African Petroleum, while ExxonMobil has been awarded significant acreage offshore Mauritania where Total has secured additional acreage.