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News and Events

  • 27 October 2021
  • By MOPE

The Gambian Ministry Opens Mini-Licensing Round For Block A1

The Ministry of Petroleum and Energy, The Gambia, has announced that it will be launching a mini-licensing round for Block A1 at Africa Oil Week on 8 November 2021. This follows the success of the licensing round for the Gambia acreages in 2018.  

Granted initially to BP in 2019, Block A1 became available in August this year after the company exited the licence. This is part of BP's company strategy to pivot from producing resources to integrating energy.

However, BP did perform the required work obligations, including acquiring and reprocessing 2D and 3D data, conducting environmental impact assessment, geohazard, geology, and geophysical studies that matured a number of prospects into drill readiness. "The Government wishes to seize this opportunity to thank BP for their interest and strong collaboration during the past two years that they have worked in the Gambia and wished them good luck in their new strategy focus, hoping to work with them in the future in some other ways", says the Honourable Fafa Sanyang, Minister of Petroleum and Energy, The Gambia.

The Ministry is working with legal, technical and financial advisors to assist them in designing the licensing round's commercial and fiscal framework that considers the current market environment and creates value for the people of The Gambia. "We are acutely aware of the impact of the energy transition on frontier oil and gas markets such as The Gambia.

 At the end of the well-prepared and fast-tracked licensing round process, we look to enter a successful partnership that works for both the Government and the international partner to extract the petroleum wealth in our country with conditions reflective of the changed reality," says the Honourable Sanyang. The 2021 licensing round will be based on the same principles of transparency and legitimacy established in the 2018 licensing round. But, to expedite the exploration started by BP, the Ministry has expressed an interest in closing the licensing round as soon as possible. Details of the structure and timelines will be provided during the Africa Oil Week and related publications. "Following our previous success in implementing the 2018 licensing round, we believe that launching a mini-licensing round for A1 will ensure the greatest transparency, legitimacy, and competition.

The multi-disciplined government team that was involved in the first licensing round will also be involved in this licensing round and has built up huge capacity over the last few years working closely alongside BP and our legal, technical, and financial advisors," says The Honourable Jerreh Barrow, Commissioner for Petroleum, The Gambia. "Our key objective in designing the licensing round is to ensure an attractive fiscal regime with low entry conditions for bidders, transparent procurement process and participation rules, and clear technical and financial minimum qualification criteria.

Our government team has the necessary experience and is well prepared to repeat the success of the 2018 licensing round, and to once more, start and finish the licensing round within the timeframe (December 2021 to May/June 2022) announced," says the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy, Lamin Camara, The Gambia. The Managing Director of National Petroleum is confident that the National Oil Company (NOC) is well-placed to partner with any eventual licensee.

 For further information, please contact: the Commissioner for Petroleum Ministry of Petroleum and Energy Bijilo

Email: jrosemax@gmail.com

 +220 9963313

Permanent Secretary Ministry of Petroleum and Energy Bijilo

 Email: lamincamara11@yahoo.com

Tel: +220 3830899

 

MOPE HOLDS VALIDATION WORSHOP FOR THE ENERGY EFFICIENCY DRAFT BILL

The Ministry of Petroleum and Energy hosted a validation workshop on the energy efficiency Law(bill) on May 18th 2023 at Tamala Beach Hotel. This workshop brought together relevant stakeholders from various ministries and organizations to discuss and dissect the bill.

Energy is a vital ingredient for the socioeconomic development of any country. Cognizant of this, the government of The Gambia, over the past years has been making significant efforts to provide reliable, adequate, affordable and sustainable energy services to its people. The successful implementation of the Energy efficiency bill is of great importance and a priority to the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy and to all stakeholders.

The formulation of the Energy efficiency bill is supported by World Bank Group and drafted by consultants from the Economic Consulting Associates (ECA) through the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy to develop and implement a comprehensive energy efficiency program for the country.

In the opening ceremony Mr. Matarr Touray, an Energy Specialist from World Bank, spoke on the numerous benefits of energy efficiency especially with the changing electricity tariffs and fluctuating exchange rates. Mr. Touray stated “The law has been developed to inherently feature local context and the development of a robust institutional framework to address pertinent issues as it relates to energy efficiency, these include issues of gender mainstreaming, financing mechanisms and data to ensure that the bill is adequately and appropriately imbedded within the sector”.

In her opening remarks, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy, Mrs Amie Njie Joof illuminated on the inefficient use of energy in our day to day lives, like leaving lights and air conditioners on in empty rooms, inefficient practices like these need to be curbed to ensure sustainable use of electricity.

The Permanent Secretary highlighted on the fact that resources are scares and that electricity is not provided to every community in the country, has resulted in the formulation of the policy on energy efficiency and conservation, which promotes the efficient and wise use of energy by every user, to save energy for use by others. As the saying goes, “energy saved is energy produced”.

 PS Njie also added that “since the promulgation of policies on energy efficiency and conservation as part of the National Energy Policy, numerous activities have been carried out on energy efficiency and conservation throughout the country.  Other activities include sensitization on energy efficiency and conservation, replacement of incandescent bulbs with LED bulbs and the promotion and distribution of improved cookstoves and rolling out the National Framework for Leapfrogging to Energy Efficient and Climate Friendly air Conditioners and Refrigerators Project. This project is intended to enhance energy efficiency in the country and ultimately reduce greenhouse gas emissions”.

The Permanent Secretary in her conclusion indicated that the Energy Efficiency Bill once enacted into law, will serve as the bedrock for the country’s energy management system in the country.