Here we are in a hangar bordered by sandy soil and bushes crushed by the sun, about 50 kilometers from Dakar: a priori, not much to do with the gas and oil that Senegal will soon draw from under the waters depths of the Atlantic Ocean. In the noise and the smell of heated metal, dozens of workers handle large sections of sheet metal, sawed then shaped according to the order, while others, equipped with heavy visors, weld these enormous pieces of metal, their blowtorch shooting geysers of red glitter in front of them.
Thiaroye Travaux Industries (TTI) is a Senegalese boilermaking SME, which manufactures and assembles conduits and other metal objects, most often for cement plants or power plants. But between 2020 and 2022, it executed a major contract for the Société Africaine de Raffinage, the national refinery, which was benefiting from a renovation and an extension in anticipation of the oil boom in which Senegal is projected. After delays, this West African country plans to launch production in June from the Sangomar offshore field (oil and gas, managed by the Australian Woodside), then in August that of that of Grand Tortue Ahmeyim, says “GTA” (gas, operated by the British BP), which it shares with Mauritania. The two projects total approximately 230 million barrels and 15 billion cubic feet, or more than 4.2 billion cubic meters.
At TTI, the project increased the number of employees to 300, compared to 150 to 200 in normal times, and totaled 75% of turnover over its period of execution (admittedly in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic). “ We were practically the first to benefit from the effects of oil/gas in Senegal, says Thierno Sène, who founded the company twenty-three years ago. It allowed us to get a foot in the door, to familiarize ourselves with the way of working and the higher demands. » TTI, which, in its wake, applied for other calls for tenders, believes “ necessarily » long-term impact for local SMEs.
Gas and oil appear to be the promise of a leap forward for Senegal, a Sahelian country known to be stable and growing but poorly industrialized, vulnerable to climate shocks and increasingly in debt. Its growth will reach 8.3% in 2024, according to the International Monetary Fund, more than twice as high as the sub-Saharan average. In this start-up year, the State is counting on 51 billion CFA francs (around 77 million euros) in revenues linked to hydrocarbons. Enticing recipes, and quick to mute, for Senegalese leaders, the calls from scientists to stop new oil projects in the face of the climate emergency.
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