Mauritania Exploration: Down To Four Blocks As Shell Concentrates Focus, Plans Wildcat

31 Mar 2023 Issue: 66 / 13 By: James Cockayne

From 14 active exploration blocks and four of five supermajors in 2020, Mauritania now has just four blocks in the hands of three firms. With Total and UK-based Capricorn also eying exits, Shell could soon be the only exploration player in town alongside BP’s production concessions.

The picture is mixed for Mauritania’s embryonic upstream sector. BP and US partner Kosmos last month announced that the country’s first ever gas development, Phase-1 of the Tortue project shared with Senegal, is on track for first gas by the end of 2023, although the first LNG cargo is not slated to load until the start of 2024.

But beyond this initial 2.3mn t/y (400mn cfd) project, the picture is mixed. BP last month announced the start of pre-FEED for a 2.5-3mn t/y Tortue Phase-2 but is in no hurry to pull the trigger on FID. “We’re going to spend the next year through pre-FEED, really ensuring that we’ve got the right approach,” Kosmos CEO Andy Inglis says. (CONTINUED - 994 WORDS)