Production has started at Senegal’s first offshore oil project, Australian operator Woodside Energy said on Tuesday, adding the West African country to the club of crude-producing nations.
“This is a historic day for Senegal and for Woodside,” said the company’s chief executive, Meg O’Neill, calling the extraction of oil from the Sangomar field “a key milestone.”
The floating facility is moored about 100 kilometres (60 miles) offshore and has a storage capacity of 1.3 million barrels, Woodside said.
The project aims to produce 100,000 barrels of oil per day. The field also contains natural gas.
Woodside has an 82-percent stake in the deepwater project with the remainder held by Senegal’s Petrosen.
Senegal also has a liquefied natural gas project at its border with Mauritania and production there could begin in the third quarter. British energy giant BP is involved in the project.
While Senegal’s fossil fuel output is not expected to be as high as that of bigger producers such as Nigeria, there are hopes the oil and gas industry will bring billions of dollars in revenue to the country and contribute to transforming its economy.
