Mauritania Is Ambitiously Working To Harness Its Vast Energy Resources

The BirAllah gas field is considered a world class field in terms of gas volume and quality, with a low carbon dioxide content. Located in the Mauritanian coastal basin 60 km north of the Grand Tortue Ahmeyim GTA gas field, BirAllah is therefore an exclusively Mauritanian field. Discovered in 2015 by Kosmos Energy as part of the exploration and production contract for Block C8, its reserves are estimated at between 50 and 80 trillion cubic feet of gas.

Although the field contains a large quantity of hydrocarbons, only two exploration wells, Marsouin and Orca, have been drilled, which means that there is still a need to gather more information about the fields reserves. Detailed technical studies also need to be carried out in order to have a development plan that is both technically and economically appropriate. We favour the option of a win-win development plan, while ensuring excellent profitability for investors and developers.

In October 2022, in line with its strategy to accelerate the exploitation of the discoveries made and to take advantage of the favourable global environment for the development of gas projects, the government began discussions with the blocks historical contractor, BP, to agree on the technical and economic conditions for progressing towards a new contract that would provide greater visibility, particularly as regards the expected date of the final investment decision.

The study of the field development plan showed the possibility of using the port of the coastal town of NDiago as a base for gas liquefaction, storage and export facilities during the first six months of the contract to be undertaken. However, the operator was not prepared to proceed with the project and sign the contract, which would have committed it to finalising the detailed engineering studies and making the final investment decision in the second half of 2025. The operator requested an extension of the contract for a further four years, but the conditions were not met, resulting in the contract expiring in 2024. I can confirm the good relationship we have with BP, which is also the main developer of the GTA gas field and which is operating in Mauritania as part of the development of an ambitious green hydrogen project.

We are currently stepping up our efforts to promote the BirAllah field by initiating contacts with world-class companies with the technical and financial capacity to propose a development plan and negotiate new contracts.