Information
Minister Demba Jawo has said that Africa Petroleum’s license for petroleum
exploration in The Gambia has expired since September 2016 and the government
has not renewed it.
Speaking
to Bloomberg News last afternoon, Mr Jawo said the oil and gas company’s
license has not been renewed which means that it has no contract with The
Gambia government.
“Renewal
or otherwise of their license will depend on the energy needs of the
country. But the government has not made
any decision about renewing it for now,” he explained.
Shares
in the Oslo-listed African Petroleum dropped some 40 per cent on Wednesday;
their second daily fall in a row. The
slop of the shares followed the confirmation by the petroleum minister, Fafa
Sanyang, that The Gambia had ended talks to extend the company’s exploration
rights for two offshore areas.
African
Petroleum said, in a statement, that it was “surprised and disappointed” by
comments from the Gambian official, reiterating its position that it still
holds the rights to the licenses and vowing to defend them, The New York Times
reported.
Industry
attracting huge interests
The
Gambia government officials have said there is “huge interest from very
credible companies” in the country’s petroleum prospects, attributing this to
the recent change of government that the country witnessed.
Mod
K. Ceesay, permanent secretary at the Ministry of Petroleum, was quoted by
Reuters early this week saying The Gambia has plans to join the Extractive
Industries Transparency Initiative which aims to promote open and accountable
management of resources.
Early
this week, the government announced the expiration of African Petroleum’s
license and the decision not to renew it as the company “failed a number of
times” in meeting its commitments.
“They
asked for an extension and we declined,” Mr Cessay said, adding that under the
Gambian laws, the government has the right to award contracts via tender and
direct talks.
The
Minister of Petroleum, Fafa Sanynag, also confirmed this, saying the decision
not to renew the contract has been communicated to the petroleum company.
“We
indicated our position to them. There are no ongoing negotiations between us
and African Petroleum,” he affirmed.
