Africa’s Biggest Gas Finds Hit by Political Turmoil and Debt Spirals
Senegal joins the continent’s nations that have had energy hopes dashed, with oil finds weighing on their financial situations.
An offshore gas terminal in Saint Louis, Senegal in 2023.
Photographer: Leo Correa/APThe last thing Senegal needed in its long-drawn-out effort to capitalize on large oil and gas finds off its coast was political turmoil.
Africa’s newest natural gas superstar had bubbled with optimism when BP Plc, Woodside Energy Group Ltd. and Kosmos Energy Ltd. agreed to develop the fields off the shores of the West African country a few years ago. The finds were touted as a game changer in a country where villages are still not connected to the power grid and more than a third of the inhabitants live in poverty.