Industrial Policy & Trade Monitor· 2663 actions· ✨ 89 recent

On 12 March 2026 Senegal's Primature held a press conference releasing mid-term findings of the National Commission for the Re-evaluation and Renegotiation of Petroleum, Gas, and Mining Contracts, created in August 2024 under Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko's reform programme. The Commission identified a 1,075.9 billion FCFA shortfall in the mining sector — concentrated in unpaid taxes/royalties and unauthorised tax exemptions at ICS (Industries Chimiques du Sénégal) — and announced the termination of four offshore oil-exploration blocks (Djifer Offshore, Kayar Offshore, Saint-Louis Offshore, Rufisque Offshore). Renegotiation of the Greater Tortue Ahmeyim (GTA) gas project, operated by BP with Kosmos Energy and Woodside as partners on the Senegal-Mauritania maritime border, is under active examination; the Primature projects 900 bn FCFA in incremental fiscal revenue 2026-2040 from the contract revision programme. This is Senegal's first major instance of retroactive resource-contract review under the Sonko-Faye government and establishes the legal-political baseline for subsequent contract renegotiations across the 27 mining contracts and remaining hydrocarbon licences under Commission review.

The Crown Minerals Amendment Act 2025 (Act No. 40 of 2025), receiving Royal Assent on 5 August 2025, reverses the April 2018 Ardern-government offshore petroleum exploration ban by removing the prohibition on new offshore exploration permits beyond onshore Taranaki, re-opening New Zealand's Taranaki, East Coast, and Deepwater basins to international oil and gas investors. The Act simultaneously amends the purpose of the Crown Minerals Act 1991 from "sustainably manage" to "promote" prospecting, exploration, and mining of Crown-owned minerals — a fundamental posture shift from conservation to production. Additional provisions restructure the decommissioning-liability regime by granting the Minister of Resources discretion to re-assign liability to former permit holders, extend the confidentiality period for speculative-prospecting data by six years, and introduce a new Tier 3 permit category for small-scale non-commercial gold mining.

The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) committed AUD 19.8 million to the NeoSmelt joint venture to fund a front-end engineering design (FEED) study for a direct reduced iron-electric smelting furnace (DRI-ESF) pilot plant at Kwinana, Western Australia, aimed at proving Pilbara iron ore can be converted into lower-carbon iron without a coking-coal blast furnace. The consortium, founded by BlueScope, BHP and Rio Tinto, welcomed Woodside Energy and Mitsui Iron Ore Development as new equal-equity participants alongside the grant announcement. Total project cost is AUD 48.85 million, with the study running from May 2025 to August 2026 ahead of a targeted final investment decision.

Senegal's National Assembly adopted Loi n° 2019-04 on 24 January 2019 and President Macky Sall promulgated it on 1 February 2019, establishing the foundational legal framework for maximising Senegalese participation across the entire hydrocarbon value chain — from exploration through decommissioning. The law creates three activity-classification regimes (exclusif, mixte, non-exclusif), mandates priority employment of Senegalese workers, and creates two implementing bodies: the Comité National de Suivi du Contenu Local (CNSCL, via Décret 2020-2046) and the Fonds d'appui au développement du contenu local (FADCL, via Décret 2020-2048). It underpins all petroleum contracts under which Petrosen, Woodside (Sangomar, first oil June 2024), bp/Kosmos (GTA Tortue Ahmeyim, first gas December 2024), and future Yakaar-Teranga development licenses operate.