A longtime symbol of "Françafrique," Gabon lacks the economic clout of its political reputation. This country of 2.4 million people has a modest place in trade with France, even though some major companies have had activities and interests there for several decades, such as the oil company TotalEnergies and the mining group Eramet.
TotalEnergies insists that its "priority" is to "ensure the safety of its employees and operations" on the territory following Wednesday, August 30 coup. The group has just 350 employees in Gabon. Through its listed subsidiary TotalEnergies EP Gabon, it extracts 17,000 barrels a day, which is far behind Nigeria (204,000) and even Congo-Brazzaville. It also operates 45 service stations, a very small proportion of the 4,700 stations it owns on the continent.
However, TotalEnergies is not the only French oil company in Gabon: Maurel & Prom, as well as Perenco, are buying up fields in an advanced stage of depletion (exhaustion) and continuing the production of oil abandoned by the majors, mainly TotalEnergies and Anglo-Dutch Shell. In mid-August, Maurel & Prom announced the purchase of Gabonese oil company Assala Energy from investment firm Carlyle for $730 million, claiming it would maintain its operation.
Nonetheless, Eramet, which specializes in the extraction and export of manganese and nickel, remains the most exposed French company, with its strategy consisting of employing 8,000 direct and subcontracted staff (98% of whom are Gabonese, a spokeswoman pointed out.) After suspending operations on the morning of Wednesday, August 30, the company announced its gradual resumption in the late afternoon.
The sudden deterioration of the political situation in Gabon is bad news for Eramet at a time when manganese and nickel prices remain depressed. After investing heavily in recent years, its subsidiary Comilog now accounts for 90% of the country's manganese production thanks to the Moanda mines, the largest in the world. The effort has made Gabon the world's second-largest producer of the raw mineral, essential in alloys, notably steel, and increasingly used in electric vehicle batteries. So much so that the European Commission has listed it among the 23 critical raw materials for the energy transition.
In total, France's presence in Gabon is represented by 81 companies in all major sectors (with the exception of banking), with sales of close to €3 billion, according to a count carried out in 2022 by the French Embassy. In addition to TotalEnergies and Eramet, Bourbon (oil services), Air France, Eiffage and Colas (public works), Air Liquide (industrial gases), CMA CGM (shipping), Meridiam (infrastructure investment fund), and Havas and Canal (media), all have operations in the country. In some cases, this has ended badly: In 2019, Veolia had to leave the country after selling 51% of its shares in Société d'Energie et d'Eau du Gabon, which was requisitioned by the state.
You have 30.49% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.