Gabon is currently contemplating imposing tax penalties running into millions of dollars from the oil giant, Royal Dutch Shell, the country’s oil minister, Etienne Ngoubou, said on Friday.

Ngoubou added that his administration was currently performing an audit probe of the oil company, noting that the government could require back taxes amounting to just below $100 million. “But the audit is not finished,” he told the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) in an interview on Friday.

The audit provoked the Foreign and Commonwealth office of the United Kingdom (UK) to start interacting with the Gabonese administration around this matter late last month.

According to the WSJ, the UK has called on the Gabonese government to make available an appealing climate for British businesses to operate in the West African country. However, Ngoubou claimed his office was not privy to any UK government advances to Gabon in place of Shell regarding this matter.

Gabon is a nation of about 1.7 million citizens and apparently produces 239,000 barrels of oil a day. Shell, which has had operations in Gabon since 1960, has onshore and offshore oil and gas resources in the country which produce 12,000 barrels a day of oil.