Gabon’s new oil regime threatened by power vacuum

The west African Opec member has moved fast to revise offshore licencing terms as it makes more blocks available

Gabon has unveiled a new licensing round, along with a set of eye-catching contract terms designed to lure back explorers that largely shunned the country's offshore in the era of low oil prices. But the timing of a new hydrocarbons code that would establish those terms could be delayed by parliamentary hurdles and a presidential power vacuum. The government needs the licensing round, which covers 23 deepwater and 11 shallow water blocks, to be a success if the country is to have a chance of offsetting production declines from existing fields. But it has yet to be presented to parliament and President Ali Bongo Ondimba has been in Saudi Arabia, recovering from an undisclosed illness. The