Calls for Full Transparency as Gambia Petroleum Commission Withholds FAR (Gambia) Ltd. Drilling Data and Quietly Redraws Offshore Blocks

Banjul, The Gambia – 14 May 2025

A series of unanswered information requests, coupled with a little-noticed 2023 Block Demarcation Regulation, has raised fresh questions about the management of The Gambia’s offshore petroleum resources and the country’s long-running border alignment with Senegal.

Key Points

1. Three formal requests, three refusals.
   Since 2 December 2024, researcher and legal analyst Ousman F. M’Bai has made three lawful requests to the Gambia Petroleum Commission (GPC) for FAR Gambia Ltd.’s drilling data and compliance records under the Access to Information Act 2021. The GPC has repeatedly declined to release the material, citing commercial sensitivity, while simultaneously advertising the same data to private investors free of charge.

2. Evidence GPC already holds the data.
   Internal e-mails (Feb 2024) show FAR Gambia Ltd. delivering a “Master Inventory” and soft copies of all A2/A5 exploration data to the Commission, in fulfilment of licence Article 19.10. FAR’s own surrender letter of 27 January 2023 confirms those deliveries and asserts no confidentiality restrictions.

3. Block boundaries quietly redrawn.
   In December 2023 the Government of The Gambia issued the Petroleum (Exploration, Development & Production) Block Demarcation Regulation. The regulation appears to reduce the surface area of Blocks A2/A5—the same acreage FAR relinquished—while expanding certain deep-water acreage to the west.

4. Potential impact on the Sangomar Reservoir.
   Independent maps suggest the pre-2023 A2 boundary lay at the edge of Senegal’s Sangomar oil-and-gas field. The new demarcation may have diluted or at worse removed The Gambia’s potential claim to that shared reservoir/s. Because the (GPC) refuses to release the original A2 corner-point coordinates, the public still does not know how much of The Gambia’s most prospective block has been shaved off by the 2023 demarcation. Independent GIS analysts cannot measure an acreage change without those coordinates.

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5. Licence amendments removed FAR Gambia Ltd.’s work obligations.
   Two deeds of amendment (24 Aug 2022 and 1 Apr 2023) deleted drilling and study commitments and waived financial penalties, paving the way for FAR Gambia Ltd. to exit without completing its promised work programme.

Quotes

“The public has a right to know why crucial drilling data remain locked away while the same records are dangled before private investors,” said Ousman F. M’Bai. “Equally troubling is the 2023 block-demarcation regulation, approved just months before FAR Gambia Ltd’s retreat, which seems to shrink The Gambia’s most prospective acreage.”

Mr M’Bai Makes the Following Observations about FAR Ltd.’s ASX Announcement of 22 August 2022

• Unverified “Sangomar oil” claim.
  In its 22 August 2022 ASX release, FAR Ltd. announced that laboratory results “support the pre-drill model that the Sangomar oil extends into Gambia,” yet simultaneously declared the find “non-recoverable” and of “no direct commercial significance.” FAR Ltd has never released the well-pressure data, MDT logs, or core analyses to substantiate either assertion.

• Ambiguous wording.
  In standard petroleum terminology, one would state that the Sangomar reservoir—not merely “oil”—extends into A2. FAR Ltd.’s phrasing blurs a crucial distinction: a reservoir extension would oblige licence holders (including Woodside Energy and Petrosen) to address potential unitisation with The Gambia across the Senegal-Gambia border.

• No independent oversight.
  Gambian officials were denied real-time verification access while drilling; no third-party auditor has certified the “poor-quality reservoir” conclusion.

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• Commercial double-speak.
  Just eight months later FAR Gambia Ltd surrendered the blocks—after the block sizes were demarcated reducing their contact with the Sangomar oil field, deeds of amendment deleted its work obligations and waived penalties—yet the Government now offers the same data to investors, free of charge. If the information is truly of “no direct commercial significance,” why refuse public release?

Mr M’Bai Reiterates His Call for:

1. Immediate publication of the Bambo-1, Bambo-1ST1 and Samo-1 pressure data, MDT logs, and core photos;
2. An independent reservoir study—commissioned by the GPC and released in full—to confirm whether the Sangomar pay zones extend into Gambian waters;
3. Full disclosure of the 2023 Block Demarcation Regulation’s technical basis, including any coordination with Senegal under the UN Law of the Sea.

Demands

• The GPC should release the Master Inventory and all non-exempt portions of FAR’s drilling and seismic data.
• The Ministry of Petroleum & Energy should publish the technical rationale behind the 2023 Block Demarcation Regulation and clarify any maritime-boundary understandings with Senegal made under the UN Law of the Sea.
• The GPC must publish the 2017 and the 2023 coordinates tables side-by-side.
• Parliament should open a public hearing into whether licence amendments and boundary changes were consistent with the national interest.

Background

FAR Gambia Ltd—the wholly owned subsidiary of Australia-listed FAR Ltd—entered The Gambia in 2017, drilling the Samo-1 and Bambo-1 exploration wells (plus a sidetrack) and holding 100% of Blocks A2 and A5. Its parent company FAR Ltd also owned a 13% interest in Senegal’s Sangomar oil-and-gas field, immediately across the maritime border.

By early 2022, FAR Ltd had defaulted on capital-call payments to its operator, Woodside Energy, and risked forfeiting its entire Sangomar stake without compensation. Under pressure, FAR Ltd sold that stake to Woodside for US $121 million, with an additional US $55 million contingent payment due by 2027. Including debt Woodside assumed, FAR Ltd has publicly stated that the transaction delivered over US $500 million in total value.

Woodside later told investors that its purchase did not include any interest in FAR Ltd.’s Gambian acreage. Unable to attract new partners, FAR Gambia Ltd invoked licence Article 26 and formally surrendered Blocks A2 and A5 in January 2023. Two deeds of amendment approved in August 2022 and April 2023 deleted FAR Gambia Ltd.’s remaining work obligations and waived all financial penalties, allowing the company to exit at no cost.

Attachments for Editors:

• Letters of request and refusals exchanged with the GPC
• FAR Gambia Ltd. surrender letter (27 Jan 2023)
• February 2024 e-mails confirming data hand-over
• Extract of the 2023 Block Demarcation Regulation