With gas prices at record levels, crude above $100/B and the 2.5mn t/y Phase-1 FLNG development of the Tortue gas hub on the Mauritania-Senegal maritime border making steady progress towards Q3 2023 start-up, focus is shifting to how to fully monetize the 100tcf of gas in place that BP and US partner Kosmos have discovered in the deepwater off Mauritania and Senegal. In particular the estimated 50tcf that would constitute Mauritania’s BirAllah hub development centred on the 2015 Marsouin-1 and 2019 Orca-1 discoveries (see map).
A key impediment to rapid BirAllah commercialization has been cash flow at the smaller firm Kosmos, which has 28% of Block C8, versus BP’s 62% and the 10% of Mauritania state firm SMH. Already in 2020 Tortue development got put on hold (MEES, 20 March 2020), and then scaled back (MEES, 13 November 2020) as Kosmos almost ran out of cash. Whilst the firm’s finances are now much healthier, the priority remains to get revenues from Tortue flowing before the firm considers major additional investment. (CONTINUED - 1377 WORDS)
