Mauritania and Senegal, with partners BP and Kosmos Energy, have announced they have reached final investment decision (FID) for the Grand Tortue complex project.
“Achieving sanction for the ground-breaking Greater Tortue Ahmeyim development, and at such a fast pace, is testament to the dynamic partnership working together to bring this innovative project onstream and establish a new deepwater gas value chain,” said Bernard Looney, BP’s upstream chief executive.
The Greater Tortue Ahmeyim (or Grand Tortue) project will produce gas from an ultra-deepwater subsea system and mid-water floating production, storage and offloading vessel, which will process the gas, removing heavier hydrocarbon components. The gas will then be transferred to a floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) facility at an innovative nearshore hub located on the Mauritania and Senegal maritime border. The FLNG facility is designed to provide circa 2.5 million tonnes of LNG per annum on average, with the total gas resources in the field estimated to be around 15 trillion cubic feet. The development, the first major gas project to reach FID in the basin, is planned to provide LNG for global export as well as making gas available for domestic use in Mauritania and Senegal.
The parties will continue to finalise agreements and obtain final regulatory and contract approvals, following which Phase 1 of the development will move into a detailed design and construction phase, with award of engineering, procurement, construction and installation contracts. Project execution activities are expected to commence in 1Q 2019. First gas for the project is expected in 2022. Following a competitive process involving all partners, BP Gas Marketing has been selected as the sole buyer for the investing partners’ LNG offtake for Phase 1.
The other major project in the area, the SNE oilfield offshore Senegal, which was discovered in 2014 and now managed by a joint venture composed of Woodside, Cairn Energy, Far Ltd and Petrosen, is expected to reach FID mid-2019.
