The President of Senegal Bassirou Diomaye Faye visited the “Sangomar” platform on Tuesday, marking the start of production of the country’s first barrels of oil.
The deepwater field, located about 100 km south of Dakar, contains oil and gas. The project, whose development was launched in 2020, required around $5 billion in investments.
The result of a collaboration between the Australian company Woodside Energy and the Société des Pétroles du Sénégal (PETROSEN), the field targets production of 100,000 barrels per day.
“Today, the President of the Republic, His Excellency Bassirou Diomaye Faye, witnessed the production of the first barrels of oil from the Sangomar platform,” the Senegalese presidency announced Tuesday evening on its Facebook page.
This production is “a historic step” in Senegal’s entry “into the oil industry”, adds the same source, indicating that the visit of the Head of State to the Sangomar field took place in the presence of Meg O’Neill , the CEO of Woodside Energy, the Senegalese Ministers of Energy, Oil and Mines, Birame Souleye Diop, the Armed Forces, Birame Diop, and the Director General of the Senegalese Petroleum Company (PETROSEN), Thierno Seydou Ly.
During his visit, President Bassirou Faye, whose remarks were relayed by local media, expressed his gratitude to those who believed in the presence of oil at the bottom of the Senegalese oceans.
He stressed the importance of their perseverance and their promotion of the Senegal sedimentary basin, which made it possible to reach this crucial stage.
“I salute the self-sacrifice and merit of all those who believed in the presence of this resource at the bottom of our oceans and promoted the Senegal sedimentary basin,” he declared in particular.
He also expressed his pride after seeing the know-how of young Senegalese men and women working on the platform.
“I also express my pride after seeing brilliant young Senegalese at work deploying their know-how at the heart of this impressive platform,” he added, highlighting the competence and commitment of human resources. local communities in this ambitious project.
Reiterating his commitment to responsible management of natural resources, the Head of State assured that the government would continue to promote transparent and equitable management of oil resources for the benefit of the entire Senegalese population.
This first extraction of Sangomar precedes the entry into production of another project, that of Grandtorte/Ahmeyim (GTA), on the border with Mauritania, developed by the British BP with the American Kosmos Energy, the Mauritanian Society of hydrocarbons (SMH) and Petrosen. It is expected to produce around 2.5 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas per year and production could begin there in the third quarter.
Oil and gas production in Senegal will be intended for export and domestic consumption.
