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APCL - How Total got the energy minister fired
How Total got the energy minister fired over Rufisque
Total has managed to shake off no less than six rivals in its bid to become the operator of the extremely high potential Rufisque Offshore Profond permit (AEI 791). According to information gleaned by Africa Energy Intelligence in Dakar, American firms Kosmos, Anadarko and ExxonMobil as well as British major Shell, the Australian Woodside and China’s CITIC, were all in the running to take over the permit. Total’s intense lobbying of the Senegalese presidency (AEI 792) to win the permit ricocheted through the country’s political sphere.
Just before the official statement was made to award Total the contract on Tuesday May 2, energy minister Thierno Alassane Sall was dismissed from his duties by presidential decree. According to our sources, his dismissal is directly related to the Rufisque deal. Several of Total’s rivals had submitted more attractive bids than the French major, and the energy minister, in office since July 2014, had campaigned for the highest offer to be nominated. Actively courted by Total, Senegal’s president Macky Sall chose to award the French oil firm the contract on operational but also political grounds. The contract was awarded the day before the second round of the French presidential elections won by Emmanuel Macron. By sending a clear message to the new French president, Senegal is hoping to build a long-lasting relationship with the new French administration (its neighbour Mauritania made the same call by granting Total a permit on May 11, three days after the election, as Africa Energy Intelligence revealed - AEI 792).
Rufisque had become a vital win for the French major: under the group’s head of E&P, Arnaud Breuillac, Total had first tried to secure the Senegalese and Mauritanian permits that make up the colossal Tortue gas field (AEI 790). It had submitted an offer to Kosmos, operator of the permits, who eventually signed a deal with BP.
In the wake of this rebuttal, Total CEO Patrick Pouyanne took the matter into his own hands, personally meeting with the Senegal presidency on several occasions. The group offered less than $100 million for a 90% stake in the permit. Total has committed to carry out and pay for a seismic survey of the very deep sections of Senegal’s offshore, an area that has been very little explored, in association with national firm Petrosen. To date, the only data the Senegal has on its deep offshore is a 2D seismic study covering 1,800 sq.m ordered in 2007 by Petrosen. In exchange for a more detailed survey covering a larger area, Total was authorised by the Senegalese authorities to purchase a second block in the country’s deep offshore
https://www.africaintelligence.com/...gy-minister-fired-over-rufisque,108233770-ART
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