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Mauritania tasks Meen/EPCM consortium

with developing gas master plan

MAURITANIA MAURITANIA’S Ministry of Petroleum, Mines country optimise the exploration and monetisa-
and Energy has tasked a consortium formed by tion of gas from fields shared with Senegal such as
a local firm and its South African partner with Grand Tortue/Ahmeyim (GTA), which is being
developing a master plan for the development of developed by BP (UK) and Kosmos Energy (US).
the country’s natural gas resources. Additionally, it will include local-content pro-
The ministry announced its decision earlier visions targeting the entire energy value chain
this month, saying it had awarded the project to – the upstream, midstream and downstream
Meen & Meen, a Mauritanian oil and gas engi- sectors, as well as electric power, petrochemicals
neering and consulting firm, and EPCM Hold- and related projects.
ings, a South African engineering project and The Ministry of Petroleum, Mines and
product developer. It did not disclose the value Energy began searching for a contractor to draw
of the deal or say when it hoped to finalise the up the gas master plan in 2019, following the
contract. discovery of 15 trillion cubic feet (425bn cubic
However, it did say that the choice of the metres) of gas in recoverable reserves at GTA.
Meen/EPCM consortium would “[reinforce] Fourteen companies and consortia submitted
the collaborative nature of the relationship bids for the project, and the ministry shortlisted
between Mauritania and South Africa.” The deal seven of them.
also highlights the success of efforts to encourage BP and Kosmos Energy are hoping to launch
business deals between companies based in the production at GTA at an initial rate of 70mn
global South. cubic feet (1.98mn cubic metres) per day in 2023.
According to the ministry, the master plan The cost of the project, which will also involve
will serve as a comprehensive strategy for the the production of 10mn tonnes per year (tpy) of
exploration, extraction and development of LNG, is expected to reach $4.8bn.™
Mauritania’s offshore gas fields. It will help the

P6 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 15 15•April•2021