Gabon oil reforms to take time: Bongo

Gabonese President Ali Bongo Ondimba defied domestic pressure to quickly implement local labour quotas in the country's oil sector, saying on Monday the move could only be phased in with proper training. Last October's announcement that all executive posts and 90 percent of total positions should be filled by Gabonese workers unsettled a sector which has long relied on expatriates, with some fearing it could hinder future investment. But trade unions who cheered the move have since complained the "Gabonisation" law is not being implemented quickly enough and are threatening strike action that could disrupt production in the some 250,000-barrels-per-day industry. The main ONEP union moved one step closer to a general strike on Monday, saying it would call the strike to commence at midnight March 27 if the government had not by then issued a decree regulating expatriate labour. "I can understand some of my fellow Gabonese being very impatient. I myself am very impatient. But you also have to give time," Bongo told Reuters during a trip to London, speaking before ONEP made the call at a news conference in the Gabonese capital Libreville. "It is also important that this goes along with a training programme," he said in the interview. "I don't want a bad Gabonisation .... I want a nice pace, but a progressive one." The rule was always seen posing a problem for foreign firms such as Total, Shell, and Tullow who were given two years to fully adjust. Oil accounts for around half of Gabon's $14.5 billion-a-year economy, a dependence it is trying to reduce through an economic diversification programme. A report last year estimated that foreign workers held 1,893 of the total 8,590 staff posts in the sector, with Gabonese holding just 17 percent of executive posts. "We are not just trying to reform the oil sector. It's the whole economy we are trying to diversify. And we think we can create more jobs for Gabonese," said Bongo, who is seeking to promote other sectors from timber processing to tourism. REFORMS "ON THE WAY" Gabon's remaining reserves are put at around two billion barrels, giving it several years yet of hydrocarbon wealth. Despite deals such as a $4.5 billion accord last year with companies from India and Singapore to develop agriculture, progress on diversification has been mixed and Bongo reshuffled his cabinet in January to try to step up the pace of reform. "We have started reforms on the way. I think we have to wait a little while to see where this is going to lead us. We are going towards the right direction," he said. Bongo predicted 2011 growth at least matching the 6 percent estimated for last year, rising to 10 percent by the end of his seven-year term in 2016. For now there was no need to go to the market for new funds by issuing a Eurobond, he said. "At this time we don't need it," he said. Gabon's existing 8.2 percent $878.6 million bond due December 2017 is trading at around 5.8 percent, according to Reuters data. Bongo's 2009 election after the death of his father, long-time ruler Omar Bongo, triggered days of riots by protesters who said the poll was rigged in his favour. A defeated rival, Andre Mba Obame, claimed the presidency in a mock swearing-in ceremony in January, prompting authorities to dissolve his National Union (UN) opposition grouping and threaten him with legal action on treason charges. "The prosecutor is doing his job," Bongo replied when asked about the affair. "I'm not involved in it. I don't want to be .... The president is out of it." Source: Reuters < Prev   Next >