Retour d’Eni sur cinq blocs offshore sénégalais : Les éclairages de Mamadou Faye, ex-DG de Petrosen
The agreement signed between Senegal and the Italian company Eni for the evaluation of five offshore blocks does not yet mean that the group is committed to exploring or developing these areas. A guest on the "Grand Jury" program this Sunday, September 20, 2026, the former CEO of Petrosen, Mamadou Faye, stated that the protocol concluded with Eni currently concerns preliminary studies aimed at assessing the oil and gas potential of the five blocks. "For the moment, there are only studies, no exploration yet," he summarized. According to him, this stage therefore does not yet mean that Eni is committed to acquiring a block in Senegal.
Mamadou Faye also notes a change in how studies are conducted. He recalls that previously, Petrosen carried out the evaluation studies before presenting them to the oil companies. "Before, Petrosen conducted its evaluation studies and then presented them to the industry, and based on these studies, the companies would come and sign contracts," he explains.
The situation is now different. "Today, nobody does it anymore and the companies do it for themselves. So, there is already a big difference in the conduct of operations and today the appearance that it gives at the basin level," he says.
In this new context, the agreement with Eni constitutes an evaluation phase which could, in the event of favorable results, lead to possible contractual negotiations.
But for Mamadou Faye, the element that particularly deserves attention remains the recent trajectory of the Italian company. "Why did Eni leave Senegal to go and acquire blocks in Gambia? That is the question that Senegal must ask itself first," he says.
The former CEO of Petrosen thus highlights Eni's presence in the Gambian blocks. "Eni took these blocks in Gambia, negotiated to study the basins around these blocks in Gambia to assess the potential and better understand the geology of these blocks, but not necessarily to take a block in Senegal," he explains.
For Mamadou Faye, this development must be seen in the context of the interest previously shown by major companies in the Senegalese basin. He identifies a particular shift following the adoption of the new petroleum code. "Before the code was released, Eni was very interested," he says, adding that "from 2017 to 2019, there were companies that were very interested in Senegal."
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