7283. SEA for a National Offshore Policy on a Sustainable Oil and Gas Sector in Senegal

The environment ministry of Senegal has invited the NCEA to coach an SEA for a policy for the offshore sector. This followed the 2018 3rd National Conference on Sustainable Development, which was dedicated to the oil and gas sector. NCEA had spoken at this conference, and the prime minister had proposed an SEA.

Significant details

Recently, significant reserves of oil and gas have been discovered off the coast of Senegal. The country now faces the challenge of exploiting these resources in a sustainable manner. This was the topic of the May 2018 National Conference on Sustainable Development. At the conference, the prime minister proposed to develop a policy for sustainability of the offshore oil and gas sector, to be produced by means of an SEA. The Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development's direction responsible environmental assessment, the DEEC, requested the NCEA to coach the preparations. In summer 2020 the Minister of Petroleum and Energy and the Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development decided to join forces and invite other ministriea to make a joint sustainable development plan for the offshore sector, with an SEA. The process is foreseen to take two years and to be financed by the World Bank. Progress of this SEA will be tracked on the website of the Ministry of Petrol and Energy (http://www.energie.gouv.sn/documentation/) . The minutes of the first meeting of the interministerial trask force can also be downloaded from NCEA's webpage (see the column on the right side).

One of the first fields to be developed is the Grand Tortue / Ahmeyim field, which is shared with Mauritania. The NCEA reviewed the ESIA that has been drafted by the BP/Kosmos consortium. This review (in 2019) generated invaluable insights for the SEA.

Parties involved

Members of the working group

Technical secretary: Mr S.G. Nooteboom

Further details

Country: Senegal

Last modified: 25 Jan 2021