Nov 8th 2017, official reports from FAR indicated that Gambian oil is as elusive as the “Jinnehs” in the Gambian mainland. In simple language, oil is nowhere to be seen in The Gambian territorial waters.
These days Deep water oil mining is at the cutting edge of hyper advance engineering science, similarly cancer surgery is the hyper advance equivalent of life science.
In the normal cause of event, a cancer surgeon would have done all the necessary preclinical diagnostic test, such as clinical symptoms evaluations, necessary X-rays evaluations, CT scan, biopsy, blood work and all other necessary diagnostic work ups prior to any surgery. Therefore, it is reasonable for one to conclude a cancer surgeon will not be performing any major surgical tissue excursion in the absence of a conclusive diagnosis.
Similarly, any responsible petroleum engineering company would not be venturing into a major marine subterranean oil dig without the necessary pre-diagnostic geological work up. Such as diagnostic fracture injection test (DFI) drill stem testing, fluid sampling, surface well testing, and so on.
After all the years of diagnostic testing by FAR, it is reasonable to conclude that FAR had more than ample evidence indicating the presence of subterranean oil within the Gambian territories. Therefore, at this very last hour these most recent claims of ELUSIVE GAMBIAN OIL is a rather suspicious one.
NO, NO, NO, the Gambian government must not fall for this same old, recycled speculator trick. Time to step on the brakes and hit that pause button. Take pause, revert back to the drawing board where we must convene for a national regrouping of our nation’s best and brightest engineers and representatives. The smell of a rat has just gotten stronger.
WHY WE MUST SMELL A RAT ABOUT FAR’s “GHOST OIL REPORT”
For starters, Gambian territories have 6 potential oil blocks: A1, A2, A3, A4, A5, and A6. FAR has possible legal claims to block A1 and A5. That leaves blocks A2, A3, A4, and A6 at 100% custody of the Gambian government control.. At this early stage of oil exploration and speculation, All concerned and informed Gambians especially those among us with working relationship and experience with high stake speculators, as a caution to our naive brothers and sisters, IT IS NOT IN THE INTEREST OF FAR TO REPORT A SUCCESSFUL OIL WELL DRILL RIGHT NOW. Any reports of successful oil well drill will result in an exponential increase in the value of the remaining 4 wells sitting at the hands of The Gambian government.
However, on the other hand any down play on the success of the oil well drill will lead to a significant strengthening in of the negotiation hand of FAR, possibly negotiating to acquire sole licensure of all remaining 4 blocks at best or in the very least serve to keep away all other potential oil speculators.
These are very tricky moments for the Gambian government and the Gambia people as a whole. My best advice at this moment are as follows:
- STOP!! Put in place a 2-year pause at granting oil license on all remaining blocks. Time will tell, time is what Gambia has in abundance. Time happens to be on Gambia’s side. I will certainly hope our current Gambian government does not leverage our unlimited time advantage for a limited cash flow.
- A mandatory prerequisite on board ship for any future oil well drilling mission, Gambia government must negotiate to have a full time Gambian born petroleum geologist/engineer on site. This time around any such appointment must be to a qualified engineer with hands on experience. These are not the times for a connection hire, a tribal hire or nepotism related hire. Such individual most certainly cannot be a new graduate or a neophyte in the field. Naturally the going pay rate for such an individual will be high. Thus, a national sacrifice must be made to pay the international going rate to a qualified capable and EXPERIENCED Gambian professional; any shortcut to pay on a peanuts salary will result to a very poor judgment call. At this level of extreme high stakes, a government that chooses to pay peanut salary will only end up getting what they pay for. The result of all such arrangement should be obvious to all by now.
- When we do resume oil explorations, preference must be given to a neutral oil company with no working or business relation with FAR, a Chinese or American oil company if possible. Such a move will minimize the possibility of collusion among oil companies.
The Gambian government must keep in mind FAR is a speculator oil company; their mission is to buy low and sell high, low in this case is contrary to the interest of the Gambian people. Time is on our side. The option of doing nothing but remain stuck at ZERO is a better option than the alternative of getting trapped in a so so deal ultimately entrapping the nation in a NEGATIVE FIVE situation.
Dr. Samuel B. Artley. DMD. FAGD
