We ended up thinking of a sea serpent: we talk about it, we never see it. Especially since we are talking about a product that must have come from the ocean depths. Finally, he emerged from the bowels of the sea. Not at the desired pace and stride, but at a snail’s pace, thus responding well to his name: Great Turtle/Ahmeyim.
The announcement of the entry into production of this gas field was made when we least expected it, when minds were focused on the end of year celebrations. Of course, it was slow, but we can console ourselves by saying that the main thing was to arrive safely. End of year or New Year gift, it depends. While we had not finished commenting on the official opening of the first gas well, we learned, three days later, of the transport of the first m3 of gas to the floating production, storage and unloading vessel (FPSO). In less than a week, the Gta project, after many delays and postponements of its operation, is experiencing acceleration at the speed of a swell. When the discoveries were made in 2015, the objective was to begin mining in 2022.
Covid turns everything upside down and calls into question all certainties. We are then talking about 2023, but the world has not yet completely recovered from the deadly virus. The cost of the project takes a big hit. The good relations between, on the one hand, the Senegal/Mauritania tandem, more united than ever in this common adventure, and the operator Bp, on the other, are feeling the backlash. Water is definitely in the gas. Embarked in the same boat, the three partners understand that in bad weather at sea, they must hold the rudder together to avoid risking damage and swallowing up an investment of 4,800 billion FCFA. Finally, the two countries and their British partner set the start of production for the third quarter of 2024, then the fourth quarter. But until the beginning of December, everything seemed compromised. The idea of yet another postponement for 2025 is even agitated. It was then that the Minister of Energy, Oil and Mines, Birame Soulèye Diop, went to Nouakchott to meet his Mauritanian counterpart and the operator Bp. Since then, there has been a series of good news about Gta.
Senegal and Mauritania are finally entering the circle of gas producing countries. What is new does not lie in the status of gas countries that they have become, but in the path that brought them there. As Minister Birame Soulèye Diop said, “this is a unique experience in the world” of oil and gas exploitation. Where the tendency is to be jealous of its natural riches and to wage war to preserve them, the two countries had the beautiful and generous idea of going in tandem in the management of this resource whose deposit spans their borders mari times. A marriage of convenience which has just given rise to an inspiring experience for the rest of the world. Since the discovery of these reserves which are said to be world class, first on the Mauritanian side in 2015, then on the Senegalese side in 2016 in Guembeul, the road has been long and has been traveled in a commendable manner by Senegalese human resources. and Mauritanian companies in perfect convergence of views, who worked in symbiosis and always negotiated together with Bp. But the start of exploitation is only a challenge of noted. There remain many others that the two countries will now have to face, including that of optimal management of the benefits of these resources from which their populations expect a lot.
