The document was initialled by Sonatrach CEO Toufik Hakkar and Petrosen Exploration & Production Managing Director Thiemo Seydou Ly and Petrosen Trading & Services Managing Director Manar Sall in the presence of the group's senior management.
This signature comes within the framework of a working visit of a delegation of top managers of Senegalese oil companies to Algeria from 31 October to 2 November 2022, on the occasion of the visit of the President of the Republic of Senegal, Macky Sall, guest of honour at the work of the 31st Arab Summit in Algiers, in his capacity as current President of the African Union (AU).
The memorandum of understanding aims to examine ways of developing cooperation between Sonatrach and Petrosen and the exchange of experiences, in addition to training, explained Mr Hakkar at the signing ceremony.
As such, visits by Senegalese delegations are scheduled "in the coming weeks" to Sonatrach's oil and gas facilities and infrastructures, while teams from the national company will, in turn, have to go to Senegal to explore development opportunities in the upstream and downstream oil sectors, Hakkar added.
The CEO underlined, in this sense, Sonatrach's interest in the mining sector in Senegal in view of its promising opportunities, affirming the will of the group, which is already active in Niger, Mali, Tunisia, and Libya, to further strengthen its presence on the African continent.
Mr Hakkar recalled, on this occasion, the importance of his meeting with President Sall who affirmed the wish to develop cooperation with Algeria in the field of hydrocarbons, notably in training and experience sharing.
For his part, the General Manager of Petrosen Exploration & Production, highlighted the importance of Sonatrach's expertise and know-how, underlining that the signing of this document constituted "the beginning of a great adventure" that will allow the development of the capacities of the Senegalese national company.
"In view of the development of our oil and gas resources planned from next year, we believe that Sonatrach is an excellent reference for developing our capacities and skills to meet the immense challenges linked to the future exploitation of oil and gas," he said.
As a reminder, following the signing of the cooperation agreement in the field of training between the Algerian Institute of Petroleum (IAP) and the National Institute of Petroleum and Gas of Senegal (INPG), on 27 July 2021, a first training action was carried out in distance mode (e-learning in synchronous mode)