Following a final investment decision (FID) by all operating parties in December 2018, the Mauritanian National Assembly on Wednesday ratified the interstate agreement with Senegal on the Grand Tortue Ahmeyim (GTA) gas field development.
In 2015, Kosmos Energy announced a gas discovery said to contain around 15 trillion cubic feet of gas that could potentially produce up to 10 million tons per day after phase 1. Named Grand Tortue Ahmeyim, the field straddles the Mauritania/Senegal border and therefore necessitates full cooperation between the two countries in order to move forward with the development.
On February 9, Sengal’s President Macky Sall and President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz of Mauritania struck an agreement setting the regulatory framework to rule hydrocarbon activities on site. The agreement states that all operations will be run on a 50/50 basis at all stages including prospecting, development, production and rehabilitation. Furthermore, generated revenues will also be split equally.
It also states general principles regarding the rights and commitments of the contractors, the structure of production and distribution, as well as the taxation scheme. According to the agreement, a revision of such distribution model is deemed to be undertaken five years after first production.
The final stage of approval for the agreement – which is the presentation of the draft in front of the National Assembly of each country – was obtained by Senegal in June 2018 and in Mauritania just yesterday.
Following the FID at the end of last year, the development of GTA is set to be on schedule with first productions expected in 2022.
