The government says the legislation will give it a stronger bargaining position with oil explorers.

In order to make more revenue from oil production, the government of Gabon has prepared a new petroleum code that has been adopted by the two Houses of Parliament, agency reports said.

Speaking recently at a press conference in the capital, Libreville, the Minister of Petroleum, Etienne Dieudonné Ngoubou, noted that most of the current legislation on the subject dates back to the 1960s and 1980s. As such, they no longer suit the current international context of oil exploration and production. Thus, the new legislation takes into account technological advances, and economic and legal exigencies to enable Gabon make maximum returns from its oil production activities.

“The State needed to restate its sovereignty in order to be in a stronger bargaining position. The reserves belong to Gabon. We seek the services of oil explorers because they have the required know-how, but we should benefit more as the owners,” Minister Ngoubou pointed out. While observers note that the draft bill is ‘revolutionary’ in its content, they point out that the real challenge lies with faithfully implementing it.

Gabon is among the top five oil producers in Sub-Saharan Africa. It produced about 240,000 barrels per day of petroleum and other liquids in 2013. Most of it went to Japan, the US, Australia, India and Spain. According to the US Energy Information Administration, EIA, Gabon has been facing declining output for more than a decade; though the economy is heavily dependent on oil production.