Annonce de Sonko sur le gaz sénégalais (Yakaar-Teranga) : la Chronologie des faits et la raison "véritable" du retrait de BP
Ousmane Sonko, the Prime Minister of Senegal, has just announced that Kosmos Energy will withdraw from the Yakaar-Teranga oil field, which will revert exclusively to Petrosen. However, it should be noted that the withdrawal of oil companies from this field did not begin under the current regime.
Indeed, the "Yakaar" and "Teranga" gas fields were discovered in 2015 and 2016 respectively, with recoverable gas resources of approximately 560 billion cubic meters. However, as early as 2023, the first disagreements arose between the State of Senegal and British Petroleum (BP), the British company.
BP, the first to have left the ship (under Macky Sall)
After months of discussions and exchanges on the development strategy, disagreements had stalled the talks. Ultimately, BP, which held a 60% stake in the gas project, decided to withdraw from the block.
“We are no longer aligned on the production capacities that are expected daily. We have not agreed on the date of production of the first gas. We have also not agreed on the commercial strategy,” said Antoine Félix Diome, then Minister of Petroleum.
What Antoine Diome had explained about BP's departure
Before the members of parliament, he revealed that BP had prioritized exports, whereas the Senegalese government wanted domestic consumption. "Because we have our power plants to supply and we want our people to benefit from the exploitation of these hydrocarbons," the minister explained.
Thus, by proceeding with the total renunciation, BP had decided to transfer its role as operator to Kosmos Energy and to share its interests (60%) free of charge with Petrosen and Kosmos, in proportion to their respective shares.
Then, the next step, the most important for both entities, was to find a new partner to join Petrosen and Kosmos, to carry out a cross-transfer of shares so as to obtain an association composed, in the long term, of: Petrosen 34%, Kosmos 33% and the new partner 33%.
Kosmos Energy had announced its departure back in March…
However, in early March, as Seneweb reported , Kosmos Energy officially announced that a third operator could not be found. This, along with disagreements over marketing strategy (as was the case under Macky Sall), precipitated the Texas-based company's withdrawal from the project.
“Regarding Yakaar-Teranga, we are collaborating with Petrosen to withdraw from the block, having failed to find a suitable partner or agree on a commercially attractive development concept with the Senegalese government,” the Texas-based company announced in its 2025 report, published on March 3. This was more than a month before Thursday’s announcement by Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko.
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