Coup in Gabon: what are France's economic interests in this country?

The coup in Gabon, which took place on Wednesday August 30, is already having consequences for France’s economic interests in the country, while concern is growing within businesses. Oil, manganese, agricultural products… “About 80 French companies are listed in the country, those that we know well”, details Étienne Giros, president of the French Council of Investors in Africa (CIAN), responsible for promoting investments French on the continent. “To this, we must add SMEs, craftsmen, restaurants, law firms, insurance companies, financial services… which number in the dozens”, he continues, to AFP.

French companies have historically been very present in Gabon, since colonization but also since the country’s independence.

Among the largest French groups present on site, the mining group Eramet initially suspended its mining and rail transport activities. But the company announced the restart of rail transport on Wednesday evening, and that of manganese production on Thursday. Passenger transport, on the other hand, remains at a standstill.

The French group, present through two subsidiaries, Comilog (the Ogooué mining company) in manganese extraction, and Setrag (the Transgabonais operating company) in railway operations, employs 8,700 people in the country. , mostly Gabonese.

Gabon is the world’s second largest producer of manganese, according to the company Coface, which specializes in risk management. this metal is used in the production of steel and batteries.

Comilog extracts most of the manganese from Gabon’s subsoil, which, according to Eramet, represented 7.5 million tonnes in 2022, the rest being produced by the Chinese company CICMHZ (Compagnie industrielle des mines de Hangzhou), and l New Gabon Mining (NGM), a subsidiary of the Indian Coalsale Group.

Also present, the oil major TotalEnergies has been established since 1928 in this country which is the fourth largest oil producer in sub-Saharan Africa and which has been a member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) since 2016, after having initially left it. in 1996.

The French giant says to AFP “mobilized to ensure the safety of its employees and its operations, which is its main priority”, without saying more.

TotalEnergies operates seven sites in Gabon, and has two subsidiaries in the country: TotalEnergies EP Gabon and TotalEnergies Marketing Gabon (marketing and services). It is also the main player in the distribution of petroleum products in the country with 45 stations, which represents a modest presence on the scale of the continent.

The company also acquired a 49% stake in Compagnie des Bois du Gabon (CBG) last year to develop a forest management model.

Also in hydrocarbons, producer Maurel

The group announced on August 15 that it was going to buy the oil company Assala Energy, active in Gabon, from the investment company Carlyle, for 730 million dollars.

Questioned by AFP, the oil company Perenco, also active in Gabon, did not respond immediately. “It is much too early to say how the situation will affect” the companies, underlines Étienne Giros, adding that these are now trying to assess first and foremost the safety of staff and the risk of stranding expatriates, as well as the protection of their property. “I don’t see a brutal exodus,” he says, however.

Gabon also became last year the first land of French exports within the Community of Central African States (Cemac), which includes Cameroon and Chad, with 536 million euros, according to figures from the Ministry of the Economy.

The main export sectors were agricultural and agri-food industry products, capital goods such as mechanical equipment, electrical equipment, electronics and computers, intermediate goods, and pharmaceutical products.