Nouakchott

- The distinguished date is 2023. It is the date when Mauritania will rise to the ranks of liquefied gas exporting countries. Huge and promising discoveries made the saliva of the West and persuaded Britain to open an embassy in Nouakchott 60 years after Mauritania's independence, and opened the appetite of international oil and gas companies.

The Mauritanians are eagerly looking forward to that date, which will witness the export of the first shipment of gas extracted from the Mauritanian-Senegalese waters, and are awaiting those prospects that the oil wealth will open to the poor people.

Attention is turning towards the "Solfa Ahmeimim" field on the Mauritanian-Senegalese maritime border, whose reserves are estimated at more than 450 billion cubic meters of gas. The two countries signed an agreement to exploit it with Kosmos Energy and British Petroleum. Which had to start by 2022 before being delayed to 2023 due to the effects of the pandemic, and it is expected to produce in the first phase 2.5 million tons of liquefied gas annually.

In his last statement to Parliament, the Mauritanian Prime Minister confirmed that the completion rate of the works in the Ahmeimim project reached 70%, and recently Parliament approved an additional contract law on the joint cooperation agreement between Mauritania and Senegal related to the development and exploitation of the common field.

Partnership, despite its drawbacks among some observers, according to what was stated by Al-Jazeera Net, Director General of Hydrocarbons in the Ministry of Petroleum, Mustafa Bashir, remains the optimal strategic option, which was built in the light of other similar experiences in the world, such as those in the North Sea as the Frigg field. ) joint between the United Kingdom and Norway.

It also came from the two countries' desire to consolidate brotherly relations and improve cooperation between them, adding that joint exploitation in such cases is the best way for technical and commercial development of the common field instead of the other option in which each party exploits what is in its side, which would raise costs and reduce costs. The percentage of profits, but what many do not know is that the reserves of the exclusive Mauritanian fields are much more than the common field.

Pure Mauritanian gas fields discovered in the south are awaiting the Mauritanian street, whose hopes of exploiting them have revived, and imagining in his mind what it will bring about in terms of a qualitative economic shift, according to what officials say, but at the same time he is concerned about it, for fear that it will be like the natural wealth that preceded it of gold and iron and was not reflected it clearly.

pure fields

After the Mauritanian coastal basin, which covers an area of ​​184,000 square kilometers, witnessed in recent years intense exploration activity by international companies in the field of oil and gas, including the British "BP", the American companies "Cosmos Energy" and "ExxonMobil", and On October 28, 2019, Nouakchott was on a date with the announcement of the confirmation of gas discoveries in its territorial waters, the first of its kind in the history of the Republic in terms of the amount of reserves.

The Birallah field is its giant, as its reserves amount to 80 trillion cubic feet of gas, and represents more than 10% of African reserves. Australian Side, in 2002 and 2003, respectively, the "Panda" field, whose reserves were estimated at 1.2 trillion cubic feet, and the "Belkan" field, with reserves estimated at 1.6 trillion cubic feet.

In 2004 and 2005, two other fields from the same company were discovered (Touf and Labidneh), whose reserves were estimated at 400 million and 50 million barrels, respectively, but Woodside was unable to present development plans for their exploitation based on preliminary feasibility studies.

According to a statement by the Ministry of Petroleum, Minerals and Energy, the (Band) field, which is located on the Mauritanian coast, about 60 km from Nouakchott, is subject to a development study with the US company New Fortress Energy / NFE as part of a memorandum of understanding signed The end of last year to produce electricity according to the gas-to-energy plan.

Economic forecasts indicate that the Great Ahmeimim Turtle Project alone will generate significant incomes for Mauritania's treasury (Mauritanian press)

production challenges

After the Mauritanian government ended the issue of the joint (Ahmeimim) field, resolved the partnership and exploitation agreements, and the production date approached, the focus today remains on how to exploit other exclusive fields in Mauritanian waters.

According to what the General Director of Hydrocarbons told Al Jazeera Net, his sector has completed the master plan for the exploitation of the exclusive Mauritanian fields, and developed a road map for that, but he adds that gas extraction in Mauritania faces major challenges, perhaps the most prominent of which is the scarcity of human resources. The sector needs in the first place not To engineers, but rather to the workforce of technicians in the value chain.

He pointed to the need to change mentalities and move towards service sectors, stressing the need for a more effective contribution from the private sector and small companies, in addition to other challenges posed by the general situation of the hydrocarbon sector, such as the difficulty of finding funding, coercion and international commitments related to the new energy transition.

Income and the specter of corruption

Economic forecasts indicate that the Great Ahmeimim Turtle Project alone will generate significant revenues for Mauritania’s treasury estimated at $100 million annually in the first phase of production, to reach in the second and third phases to one billion dollars annually, as the production capacity is expected to exceed the threshold of 10 million tons annually, which is The government bet incomes that it will change the reality and bring about a transformation in the national economy.

However, adherence to the principles of "good governance" remains the most prominent challenge and obsession controlling the minds of citizens who wish to make optimal and transparent use of this wealth to revive their exhausted economy.

The Director General of Hydrocarbons says, "Mauritania is included in the Global Transparency Initiative and is faithful to its obligations and covenants in this field, and that the procedure for awarding contracts to petroleum companies goes through clear legal procedures and through decrees of laws from the Council of Ministers and in accordance with the crude hydrocarbons law. The agreements are published on the websites of the Ministry and the National Committee." Transparency in the extractive industries, in its details, so that it is available for everyone to see.

He added that Mauritania's experience with establishing a national fund for hydrocarbon revenues was successful and a guarantor of transparency, as no ounce comes out of it except through the finance law towards the budget.

Mustafa Bashir believes that joint exploitation is the best way for technical and commercial development of gas fields (Mauritanian press)

new Horizons

Given the strategic location of these fields and their proximity to the European Union and the American continent, it is expected that Mauritania will become an important economic pole in the region and a preferred destination for investors, which will contribute to the recovery of the local economy and advance development.

Gas companies provide hundreds of job opportunities for Mauritanians in the process of building the Ahmeimim gas project, the deepest well in the world, and the companies operating in it have signed more than 60 contracts with local companies worth $150 million.

The port of friendship in Nouakchott is witnessing the process of transporting, distributing and storing the equipment and pipes used in the project, including 350 kilometers of pipelines, a movement that will provide the port with an estimated income of $25 million.

However, many economists in the country do not expect the exploitation of gas to have a strong impact on the Mauritanian economy, unless there is an effective role for local companies and the national workforce, stressing that it will achieve significant incomes, but foreign companies remain the largest beneficiary in light of Mauritania's inability to extract its gas wealth.