STH,
Just to put the above in context.. I copy in, what I perceive to be the full article.
Note that I came across this on another social media form and can only trust that the person who provided the article on that forum in first instance will not take offense. If so, I might have to have this deleted.
"Senegal licensing round off amid controversies
Confusion over licensing as smaller players threaten litigation over acreage redesignation
Barry Morgan Paris
17 Feb 2017 00:00 GMT Updated 16 Feb 2017 08:46 GMT
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Senegal has had to rethink its upstream priorities in the wake of continued controversy around plans to attract major oil companies such as Total into offshore acreage.
Upstream understands that an ultra-deepwater licensing round promised by state-owned Petrosen director general Mamdou Faye is now off the table because it is believed the exercise would not attract suitors in the current climate — several existing licences are under threat of revocation and litigation.
Further complicating the licensing picture is President Macky Sall’s fledgling creation Cos-Petrogaz (COP). Officially known as the Strategic Orientation Committee for Oil & Gas, it is responsible for acreage redesignation but is unable to start work until its charter is voted on and approved by Parliament and this is not likely before June at the earliest.
COP still lacks sufficient staff and legally defined powers, although two French-trained technocrats, Ousmane Ndiaye and Mamdou Kane, have been appointed to head the organisation, are advising the presidency and are already sounding out investor interest in acreage.
COP has also been busy in Paris. On 22 December, it signed a letter of intent with the French Institute of Petroleum in the presence of President Sall on a state visit to meet his French counterpart Francois Hollande.
After this agreement was signed a data room was made available to Total, whose executives have been told by Hollande to take a strategic position in Senegal’s upstream sector.
Petrosen has been helping Total draw up a hit-list of blocks likely to fall vacant when present tenants fall foul of work commitments.
Ministry of Energy officials in Dakar were duly informed after Sall’s state visit to cease all negotiations for licence extensions in order to facilitate swift entry of the French supermajor.
However, government officials have under-estimated the tenacity of a raft of small companies to keep hold of their prospective acreage off Senegal.
One of these is Africa Petroleum Corporation (APC), which holds the prized Rufisque Deep block abutting Cairn Energy’s SNE oil play and has attended several licence-related meetings in Dakar with potential farminee Africa Energy.
However, APC has been warned of trouble ahead linked to its association with Timis Corporation, so its next steps are unclear.
Most small companies operating off Senegal have farm-in partners lined up and demand a reasonable interpretation of joint operating agreements to allow them to stay in these waters.
They are also willing to litigate which would be a catastrophic scenario for investor confidence.
Another issue is also making life difficult for Total.
Upstream understands that the supermajor and France’s foreign affairs establishment were told by Senegalese representatives this month that they can no longer rely on agreements, pursuant to the Pacte Coloniale, that ensure preference for French industry in developing strategic resources, especially hydrocarbons, in the former French colony.
Total can now only target unlicenced blocks or present itself as a farm-in candidate to distressed operators.
The French giant will have competition from its peers to access Senegal’s waters.
BP is keen to expand its footprint in the region after its successful farm-in to Kosmos Energy’s gas-rich and potentially oil-rich acreage off both Senegal and Mauritania.
ExxonMobil, Malaysia’s Petronas, China National Offshore Oil Corporation and Tullow Oil are waiting in the wings to see how Senegal handles its former colonial master."
Looks like little sisters ain't gonna allow big sister to simply walk in and take as she likes. Other sisters now ganging up for a stoush.
Cheers
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