Gabon has signed a landmark $1 billion oil prepayment agreement with multinational commodities giant Trafigura, unlocking immediate capital to fund a sweeping expansion of the country’s oil and gas value chain — including an audacious target to triple refinery capacity within six years.
The agreement grants Trafigura offtake rights to Gabonese crude over a seven-year period. In return, Gabon receives upfront liquidity to advance priority investments, including sustaining output above 220,000 barrels per day (bpd) and tripling refinery capacity by 2030.
“The Republic welcomes the strong return of Trafigura to Gabon and thanks the company for this agreement, which aims to optimise the country’s oil resources, strengthen the foreign exchange reserves of the Central Bank, and facilitate the proactive management of the nation’s treasury,” said Thierry Minko, Gabon’s Minister of Economy, Finance, Debt and State Holdings.
Tackling Production Decline
The urgency of the deal is underscored by a sharp long-term production decline. Gabon’s output has fallen from approximately 370,000 bpd in 1997 to around 224,000 bpd in 2024 — and is projected to fall further to between 100,000 and 200,000 bpd by 2030 without significant new investment.
Gabon’s upstream strategy centres on accelerating infill drilling, redeveloping mature fields, and enhancing oil recovery across key assets such as Dussafu and Hibiscus. In a separate but related development, Front-End Engineering Design contracts for the expansion of the Société Gabonaise de Raffinage (SOGARA) refinery in Port-Gentil have been awarded to Technip Energies.
Expanding PSC Portfolio
The crude underpinning the Trafigura agreement comes from a portfolio of production sharing contracts (PSCs), reflecting Gabon’s broader strategy to leverage existing and new partnerships. Recent PSC developments include the extension of the Dussafu PSC with Panoro Energy and a new offshore PSC with ReconAfrica for Block C-7 in 2025, alongside existing partnerships with Perenco, BW Energy, and TotalEnergies.
A portion of the financing is being distributed by Trafigura to international financial institutions, broadening Gabon’s access to global funding markets. For Trafigura, the deal diversifies its crude supply portfolio amid ongoing global supply disruptions.
Source: prospect-intel.com