Posted by Petroleum and Energy minister Fafa Sanayang on Tuesday told journalist that following the effectiveness of the BP license, the government of The Gambia is expected to receive a signature bonus, which is a one-off payment of $10.1million from BP.
The minister made this remark at the press briefing after successfully signing of Deed of Assignment of the government participatory interest to Gambian National Petroleum Company (GNPC) and the Joint Operating Agreement (JOA) between GNPC and BP.
Mr. Sanyang stated that the country is at a very early stages in oil and gas exploration with only
few wells drilled throughout their exploration history; two wells offshore and two onshore with no discovery yet.
He explained that one fundamental legal instrument in the framework is the Petroleum Exploration and Petroleum Licence Agreement (PEPLA).
Minister Sanyang continued that the ministry therefore initiated a process to review the existing Petroleum Exploration Development and Production Model license 2014 to provide a modern licencing regime.
Cognizant of the complexity and the resource requirements of such an undertaking, the minister revealed that his ministry approached the African Legal Support Facility (ALSF) of the AfDB for technical assistance.
“It is through the international competitive bidding process that BP emerged as the successful bidder for offshore BlockA1,” he disclosed.
Mr. Sanyang revealed that BP will be paying a surface Rendell few of $250/Sqkm every year for the A1 block and a training and a resource fund contribution of $500,000 per annum during the validity of the licence
He further stated that now that the government has assigned its 10% share to GNPC, BP and GNPC will have to diligently implement the licence particularly the agreed work programme, which includes commitment to drill an exploratory well within the next two years.