Mauritania: A New Gas Player with Investment Opportunities

Golar Gimi FLNG at GTA field offshore Mauritania (Source: Golar LNG)

Mauritania is on the verge of establishing itself as an emerging player in the global gas industry. The new African gas producer is set to start exporting its first LNG from the Greater Tortue Ahmeyim (GTA) project in the fourth quarter of this year.  The GTA project is designed to produce up to 2.5 million tons per annum (mtpa) of LNG in the first phase, with plans to double production to 5 mtpa, and potentially reach 10 mtpa in the third phase. Mauritania has an estimated recoverable gas reserves of 80 trillion cubic feet (tcf) in the deep offshore.

GTA Phase 1 Project

Discovered by Kosmos Energy (NYSE: KOS) in May 2015, the GTA was the first gas discovery in Mauritania. The field is located on the maritime borders between Mauritania and Senegal, in a water depth of 2,850 meters. Both countries signed an interstate cooperation agreement (ICT) in February 2018 to develop the field that is estimated to hold 15 tcf  of recoverable reserves. Following the agreement, the field operator, BP and its partners (Kosmos Energy, Senegal’s Petrosen and Mauritania’s Societe Mauritanienne des Hydrocarbures) took the final investment decision in December 2018 for the first phase of the field development, marking the beginning of a multiphase project.