The Ministries of Energy of Senegal and Mauritania announced that the Great Turtle Ahmim gas field project (GTA), developed by BP and other partners, launched the first gas production from an offshore field off the coast of the two countries.
The $4.8 billion GTA project is expected to produce about 2.3 million tons of liquefied natural gas annually, in its first phase, according to Bloomberg News Agency on Wednesday.
The gas will flow from wells in water at a depth of up to 2,850 meters to a floating storage vessel, where it will be processed.
The British company British Petroleum (BP) owns 56% of the project, while the American company Kosmos has 27%, while Senegal’s share is 10% and Mauritania 7%.
The energy ministries of Senegal and Mauritania said in a joint statement yesterday that flows to the floating project have begun and LNG deliveries are now expected to begin “very soon.”
Project path
- Construction of the floating platform began in 2019 in China, and was prolonged due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
- The construction of the platform was not completed until January 2023, and the giant platform set sail for Singapore.
- The platform continued sailing, stopping partially in the Mauritius Islands before arriving at the Spanish port of Tenarife, where it underwent checks to verify the safety of the gas production process.
- The platform completed its journey towards its final destination deep in the Mauritanian-Senegalese waters, arriving at its location 40 kilometers from the coast.
Close marketing
The two ministries said, in a statement yesterday, Tuesday, “The success of opening the first well of the project is the culmination of the course of technical operations and paves the way for the start of gas marketing soon.”
BP and US-listed Cosmo Energy are leading the development of the field, which is the first liquefied natural gas project in Senegal.
Based on data from the Ministries of Petroleum and Energy of the two countries and BP, it is expected that the Turtle gas field will provide:
- 2.5 million tons of liquefied natural gas annually when it enters the production stage in the first stage.
- Production will rise to 6 million tons between 2027 and 2028.
- Production will reach 10 million tons by 2030.
An informed source told Al Jazeera Net, earlier last year, that BP informed Mauritanian and Senegalese officials that there is a possibility that production in the second phase will not exceed 5 million tons because the field’s lake may not be connected for most of it, which will force more drilling. And more costs.
