Gambiaj.com – Australia’s Woodside Energy, which operates Sangomar oil and gas field in Senegal, said on Wednesday it had filed a court action in the capital Dakar over a tax assessment.

The company, which holds an 82% participating interest in Senegal’s first offshore project, has turned the West African nation into the world’s newest oil producer.

Earlier this week, Senegalese media reported that the country’s tax authorities were claiming around 41 billion CFA francs ($68.68 million) from the company.

A Woodside spokesperson did not confirm the amount but said the firm was disputing the tax assessment in the High Court of Dakar.

Senegalese tax authorities did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Woodside said in June that Sangomar field, discovered about 10 years ago, produced oil for the first time. Sangomar, about 100 km (62 miles) offshore south of Dakar, is expected to produce about 100,000 barrels per day.

In July, Senegalese President Bassirou Diomaye Faye, who was elected in March, said the West African country would renegotiate oil contracts to get more benefits for its resources.

(Reuters – Reporting by Bate Felix and Diadie Ba; Writing by Anait Miridzhanian; Editing by Richard Chang)