Oil Exploration Prospects
A governance framework for future resources
The Gambia's Atlantic coastline sits within a sedimentary basin that geological surveys have assessed as potentially hydrocarbon-bearing. Preliminary offshore exploration has generated encouraging data and attracted the interest of international oil companies. Whether commercially viable reserves exist remains to be definitively established through exploration drilling. The National Builders Party is clear-eyed about both the opportunity and the risk. Countries that have managed petroleum revenues well, among them Norway, Botswana, and increasingly Ghana and Senegal, have done so through institutions designed before the money arrived, transparency frameworks that made revenues publicly visible, and sovereign wealth mechanisms that converted finite resource revenues into lasting financial assets. The Gambia will learn from every one of those examples. This policy is not a spending plan for revenues that do not yet exist. It is a governance framework that will be ready if they do.
A Gambia that manages its petroleum resources the way a responsible steward manages any finite asset: with transparency, with discipline, and with the long-term interests of the whole population as the governing principle. If commercial reserves are discovered and developed, the revenues will flow through a Sovereign Wealth Fund, will be reported in full to the National Assembly and the public, will be invested in the diversified economy that outlasts the oil, and will leave future Gambians better off than they would have been without the resource. Gambia's resources will serve its people, not the privileged few. Every Gambian will be included in the journey from discovery to prosperity.
The NBP will enact a Petroleum Resources Act and establish an independent National Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority, building the legal and institutional foundation that must exist before a single contract is signed.
The Act will vest ownership of all petroleum resources in the Gambian state on behalf of the Gambian people, establish a transparent block licensing system, and require all petroleum agreements to be published in full on a public contracts register within 30 days of signing. NOGRA will be established as a fully independent regulator with its own budget, board, and enforcement powers, publishing an annual Transparency Report on all licensed operations. The Gambia will accede to the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative in Year 1, joining the international framework that independently reconciles what governments receive against what companies report paying.
The NBP will legislate the Gambian Sovereign Wealth Fund before any revenues arrive, ensuring that petroleum wealth is saved, invested, and shared across generations rather than spent by the government of the day.
The Fund will be established by Act of the National Assembly, governed by an independent board of investment professionals appointed on merit. Its governing principle is intergenerational equity: finite resource revenues belong to present and future Gambians equally. Priority investment areas will include healthcare, education, the housing programme, agricultural transformation, and the renewable energy transition. An annual Fund Report will explain in plain language how much was received, how it was allocated, and what it funded. Short-term gain will never override long-term prosperity. The Fund is the mechanism that guarantees it.
The NBP will ensure Gambians are employed at every level of petroleum sector activity through a Local Content Act, a National Petroleum Training Institute, and a Petroleum Studies Department at the University of The Gambia.
A Local Content Act will mandate minimum Gambian employment, business participation, and technology transfer requirements for all petroleum sector activities. All operators will submit annual Local Content Plans to NOGRA, with financial penalties for failure to meet commitments. A Petroleum Studies Department at UTG will launch in Year 1. A National Petroleum Training Institute will follow in Year 2. A Gambian Petroleum Scholarship Programme will fund study at leading international institutions. If oil is developed in Gambian waters, Gambians will not watch from the sidelines. They will be the engineers, geologists, and managers running it.
The NBP will make environmental protection a binding condition of every petroleum licence and require Community Development Agreements that guarantee tangible, enforceable benefits to the coastal and fishing communities closest to any offshore operations.
Environmental Impact Assessments will be mandatory before any drilling. Real-time environmental monitoring will be conducted and published. A National Oil Spill Response Centre will be operational before any production begins. Fishing communities and coastal settlements nearest to offshore operations will be treated as primary stakeholders, not afterthoughts. Every petroleum operator will be required to negotiate a legally binding Community Development Agreement covering infrastructure investment, local employment priorities, and a community grievance mechanism. The ocean, the fishing grounds, and the coastline will be protected as a condition of every licence, not a negotiation point within one.
For Every Gambian Citizen
The petroleum beneath Gambian waters belongs to the Gambian people. The Sovereign Wealth Fund is the mechanism that converts it into lasting public benefit. The annual Petroleum Benefits Report will tell you in plain language what was received and what it built. If there is oil, every Dalasi of it will be publicly accounted for.
For Young Gambians
A Petroleum Studies Department at UTG opens in Year 1. A National Petroleum Training Institute follows in Year 2. The Local Content Act mandates Gambian employment at every level. If oil is developed, the generation being trained now will be the professionals who run it. The NBP will not allow a national resource to be developed by foreign expertise while Gambians watch.
For Fishing and Coastal Communities
Community Development Agreements with legally enforceable investment requirements mean guaranteed, not discretionary, benefits for the communities closest to any offshore operations. A spill response capability will be in place before production begins. Your waters and your coastline will be protected as a condition of every licence.
The National Standard in petroleum governance is straightforward: if oil and gas revenues come to The Gambia, every Dalasi will be publicly accounted for, managed through institutions that serve the Gambian people, invested in ways that benefit the whole population and not just the present generation, and held to environmental standards that protect the ocean and the coastline for everyone who comes after. Oil is a finite resource. The governance of it must be infinite in its rigour. The National Builders Party will pursue exploration with discipline, vision, and integrity. Gambia's resources will serve its people, not the privileged few.
Oil wealth has transformed nations. It has also destroyed them. The difference is governance. If The Gambia's waters hold what the surveys suggest they might, the National Builders Party will have every institution, every law, and every safeguard in place to ensure it builds rather than corrupts.
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