Related Article from NYT Gambia Ends Talks With African...

Related Article from NYT

Gambia Ends Talks With African Petroleum, Seeks New Bidders

By REUTERSJULY 4, 2017, 8:57 A.M. E.D.T.

"African Petroleum has failed a number of times in meeting their commitments. They asked for an extension and we declined," Mod K. Ceesay, permanent secretary for petroleum at Gambia's oil ministry said in an interview with Reuters, without giving further details.

BANJUL — Gambia has ended talks with African Petroleum to extend oilexploration in two of the West African country's most promising offshore blocks and is now in preliminary discussions with new investors, a senior oil official told Reuters.

Oslo-listed African Petroleum's share price fell 57 percent after the story was published, prompting the bourse to temporarily suspend trading. The company, founded by Australian-Romanian billionaire Frank Timis, issued a statement denying that its licences had been terminated.

African Petroleum had been seeking to prolong its exploration period, which expired in September 2016, and to that end its chief executive met with new President Adama Barrow, who replaced long-ruling Yahya Jammeh in January.

"We indicated our position to them. There are no ongoing negotiations between us and African Petroleum," he added.

On Tuesday, it said the terms of its licences stated they remained active until the state enacted a termination procedure.

"No such termination procedure has been enacted by the state and African Petroleum therefore reserves its legal rights over the licences," it said.

The A1 and A4 blocks it says it still operates are adjacent to blocks in Senegal's water where Britain's Cairn Energy made the largest global discovery in 2014.

A recent evaluation of the blocks cited by African Petroleum suggests they could contain over 3 billion barrels.

Shares in African Petroleum were down 24.63 percent at 1416 GMT.

EXCLUSIVE TALKS
The company has previously acknowledged that it did not meet its requirement to drill a well within the timeframe of the agreement. But it says it has invested over $64 million in Gambia.

It said in a statement in April that it was in talks with an unnamed listed company to take a 70 percent stake in the two blocks as well as one in neighbouring Senegal.