Senegal to offer 109 oil blocks to investors

Senegal plans to offer as many as 109 oil and gas blocks to local and foreign investors, according to the Minister of Energy and Petroleum, El Hadji Abdourahmane Diouf.
Currently, only four out of the West African nation’s 113 oil and gas blocks are under contract, the official told a local television channel.

“The remaining 109 will be put on the market. The president’s plan is to create local leaders in the energy, oil, and gas sectors,” Diouf said.

Several offshore oil and gas discoveries over the past decade have successfully jump-started Senegal’s petroleum industry. The country launched its first oil project in 2024, followed a year later by liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports from a joint gas project situated offshore Senegal and Mauritania.

The start-up of Senegal’s inaugural oil project in 2024 propelled economic growth to a record high, after Australia-based Woodside Energy achieved first oil at the Sangomar oil project in June of that year.

The Sangomar Field Development Phase 1 is a deepwater project featuring a stand-alone floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) facility with a nameplate capacity of 100,000 barrels per day (bpd), alongside subsea infrastructure designed to accommodate subsequent development phases.

“First oil from the Sangomar field marks a new era not only for our country’s industry and economy, but most importantly for our people,” stated Thierno Ly, general manager of Senegal’s national oil company, Petrosen, at the time.

A year later, BP, acting as operator, safely loaded the first LNG cargo for export from Phase 1 of the Greater Tortue Ahmeyim (GTA) project located offshore Mauritania and Senegal. Phase 1 at GTA is projected to produce around 2.3 million tons of LNG annually, with operations expected to span more than two decades.