Senegal to review oil, gas codes ahead of MSGBC 2025 in Dakar, says minister

Birame Souleye Diop, Minister of Energy and Mines of Senegal, has announced that the country will review its oil and gas codes ahead of the MSGBC Oil, Gas & Power 2025 conference and exhibition, scheduled to take place in Dakar from December 9–10.

MSGBC stands for Mauritania–Senegal–The Gambia–Guinea-Bissau–Conakry Basin — a West African offshore sedimentary basin that has become one of the continent’s most dynamic emerging hydrocarbon regions.

Speaking on the sidelines of the African Energy Week (AEW): Invest in African Energies 2025 conference in Cape Town last week, Diop said Senegal is currently reviewing all of its codes, including those governing the electricity sector, “in order to create a framework for industrialisation.”

According to the minister, the revisions will emphasise transparency, local content, and mechanisms to ensure that revenues more directly benefit Senegalese citizens.

Since taking office in late 2024, Diop has made reform of Senegal’s hydrocarbons framework a core part of his agenda. A close ally of President Bassirou Diomaye Faye, he has pushed for greater transparency in upstream contracts, stronger local participation, and tighter oversight of production-sharing agreements signed under the previous administration.

Diop has also advocated revising fiscal terms to ensure communities benefit more directly from new oil and gas revenues as Senegal transitions from first production at the Sangomar oilfield and the GTA gas project.

The reforms coincide with Senegal’s transition to an energy producer, following first oil from the Sangomar field—operated by Woodside Energy and Petrosen—at about 100,000 barrels per day (bpd), and the expected late-2025 start-up of the Greater Tortue Ahmeyim (GTA) gas project with BP and Kosmos Energy.

Senegal holds estimated reserves of more than 1bn barrels of oil equivalent (boe), largely from offshore discoveries such as Sangomar and GTA. Hydrocarbons are projected to contribute over 10% of GDP once full production begins, boosting export revenues and energy self-sufficiency.

Meanwhile, Lamin Camara, Permanent Secretary to The Gambia’s Ministry of Petroleum and Energy, said the West African country is in advanced stages of negotiations for oil well licences.

“By the time we get to the MSGBC conference, we will announce that we have signed licences for our oil wells,” Camara said, adding that discussions are expected to conclude before the event.