A decision to either hold a licensing round or direct negotiations for our open blocks must be made in consideration of amongst others, the dynamics; of prospectively, level of interest, block size, location, timing, and unpredictability of regional (exogenous) petroleum developments.
If a licensing process is to be undertaken, below are stages involved;
1. The first stage of the Licensing process is the Request for Information (RFI) form for pre-qualification of interested International Oil Companies (IOC). The RFI required oil companies to fill a form providing information and supporting evidence in relation to corporate information, financial standing, technical experience, drilling experiences and operational experience;
2. The second stage of the Licensing is the Request for Proposal (RFP). The RFP required Oil companies to bid for work program commitments and Commercial offers (Royalties and Signature bonus);
(Please note that upon receiving the required information and supporting evidence in the first and second stages of the Licensing process, they are evaluated by the Evaluation Committee from the Petroleum Negotiation Committee); and
3. The third stage is the Negotiation and finally the signing of the License.
However, even if direct negotiations are to be chosen, critical elements of the licensing toolkit should be applied. In particular, screening through the RFI process must always be undertaken to ensure that, every International Oil Company (IOC) that is to engage has the minimum technical and financial qualification for the realization of our policy objective.
Licensees in the Upstream sector;
- Far Gambia Ltd (FAR);
- PC Gambia Ltd (PETRONAS); and
- Petronor (Gambia Ltd)