Turkey signs oil cooperation deal with Senegal in latest Africa outreach

Turkey has signed a hydrocarbons cooperation deal with new oil producer Senegal, building on similar recent agreements with Somalia and Niger, Ankara said Oct. 31.

Following a meeting between new Senegalese president Bassirou Diomaye Faye and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the two countries penned a “memorandum of understanding in the fields of energy and hydrocarbons,” according to a statement on social media by Turkish energy minister Alparslan Bayraktar.

The deal covers “cooperation in the field of oil and natural gas exploration, production and trade” and will see Turkey contribute to seismic exploration activities onshore and offshore Senegal, the official said, as well as in the fields of renewable energy, critical minerals and rare earths.

Ankara has signed a slew of energy cooperation agreements with African nations in recent months as it looks to cement ties with the fast-growing African economies and secure future oil and gas supply. The country imported 31.4 million mt of crude oil and 17.6 million mt of petroleum products in 2023, against local crude production of 4.1 million mt, according to figures from energy regulator EPDK and the Mining and Petroleum Directorate.

Turkish seismic vessels are currently exploring for oil off Somalia, where activity by international oil companies dried up after the outbreak of civil war in the 1990s.

Meanwhile, Turkish companies have been encouraged to invest in oil exploration in Niger, where a military coup last July led the country to upend its traditional alliances with Western nations such as the US and France. Turkey is also reportedly seeking to secure access to Niger’s uranium ores for its nuclear power sector.

Ankara is also mulling stepping up exploration activity off Libya, answering a call to do so from the North African country, Bayraktar said in September.

Senegal is one of the world’s newest oil producers, having brought its 100,000 b/d Sangomar oil project online in June. Operated by Australia’s Woodside, the project produces sour crude for export and has found buyers in China, Europe and Malaysia, according to trading sources and data from S&P Global Commodities at Sea.

The West African country is also awaiting imminent start-up of its inaugural gas project -- the Greater Tortue Ahmeyim gas field -- which straddles the Senegal-Mauritania border and is expected to produce 2.3 million mt/year of LNG in its first phase. The project is slated to come online in the fourth quarter.