On Tuesday June 11, the Australian company Woodside Energy announced the start of oil extraction from the Sangomar field, off the Senegalese coast. An event hailed by all of the country’s media, who see in this discovery a new era of prosperity for the national economy.
” It is finally here ! », exclaims Walf Quotidien, who seems both enthusiastic and relieved after the many years of waiting and the adventures which preceded this long-awaited moment. Indeed, the discoveries of these offshore oil and gas fields date back to 2014 and 2016.
For Thierno Ly, general manager of Petrosen, the national hydrocarbons company, “the start of production marks a new era for the industry, the economy and our populations”. He salutes the commitment of the teams who have “worked tirelessly to achieve our strategic objectives in a complex and demanding environment”.
Senegal hopes to reap comfortable profits from this new oil windfall. According to estimates, the financial impact is estimated at 20,000 billion CFA francs over thirty years (around 30.5 billion euros), or on average 700 billion per year (a little over a billion euros).
Located around a hundred kilometers south of Dakar, the Sangomar deposit, formerly known as SNE, is particularly deep. Its reserves are estimated at 2.5 billion barrels of crude oil, with a production capacity of between 100,000 and 250,000 barrels per day.
The exploitation of Sangomar oil opens a new chapter for Senegal. The country will have to overcome many challenges to manage this oil windfall in a sustainable and equitable manner, and so that the entire population benefits from it.
