BP has signed an agreement with Gambia's national oil company to jointly operate the disputed deepwater Block A1 License offshore the West African country.

In April, Gambia said it awarded BP the A1 block, one of two that the government taken from from Norwegian-listed African Petroleum Corporation in 2017, saying the licences had expired and that the company had failed to meet contractual obligations.

The joint operating agreement (JOA) signed by the UK supermajor and Gambia National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) on Tuesday marks the state operator's first involvement as partner on an oil license in Gambia and comes as Gambia's government is promoting oil and gas development to revive the nation's struggling economy.

The JOA defines the operational boundaries of the BP-GNPC relationship, and GNPC as government licensee has been assigned a 10% participating interest in the license.

GNPC said the partners will work together to begin exploration in the block.