President Alhaji Dr Yahya Jammeh was, on Wednesday, briefed by Roger Haines, chairman of Buried Hill Energy, on the company's latest work on the prospects of drilling for oil in The Gambia.

Mr Haines said, last year, using advanced new tecnology on the 'Alhamdullilahi Project', his company was able to identify five distinct plates with 26 prospects of oil production. He noted that this has shown that there is a greater potential for oil in The Gambia than previously thought.

Chairman Haines further disclosed that his company is working on identifying the best sites for establishing drilling rigs and if all goes according to plan, drilling for oil would start in early 2009.

He added that the conclusions of the indepth technical work done so far has made it increasingly easier to convince the world oil industry of The Gambia's production potentials. Speaking earlier, the secretary general and head of the Civil Service who is also the secretary of state for Petroleum challenged Buried Hill Energy to work diligently in order to gain the desired results.

The occasion was punctuated by the presentation to the president of the integrated satellite map of The Gambia.