Piet added another African country to his list; he had to visit Gabon last week. Shell has been present for almost 60 years in Gabon, but late 2017 sold all of its oil fields to another company. The offshore exploration blocks, part of Piet's responsibility, are now the only Shell assets. The new Shell office is manned with a Gabonese administrative assistant only, and all the work is done from The Hague. Piet had to go for a few meetings with the Ministry, in the capital Libreville. This is a safe and uninspiring city on the Atlantic coast. In the evenings Piet managed a few short walks along the beach (see pictures below), with many small streams flowing sewage and other waste into the ocean. So it was not strange that nobody was swimming!
The meetings were in French, and Piet benefitted from all his time spend in France. But his geological education hasn't really prepared him to negotiate legal text in French! With the Shell lawyer on call from The Hague they managed, and he left with the signed agreement he came for in the first place. And he had to manage a lot of patience....
Playing football on Libreville beach
View from the Shell office
View towards Libreville
It looks idyllic!
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