ExxonMobil joins offshore Mauritanian oil rush

Sahara

Published on Thursday, 14 December 2017 Back to articles

On 4 December, it was confirmed that ExxonMobil had joined the rush for blocks in the wider MSGBC Basin — which includes Mauritania, Senegal, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, and Guinea-Conakry – and particularly the Senegal-Mauritania section which is one of the world’s most exciting exploration hotspots.

Its wholly owned affiliate, ExxonMobil Exploration and Production Mauritania Deepwater Ltd., signed Production Sharing Contracts (PSC) with the Mauritanian government for three deep-water offshore blocks. Blocks C22, C17 and C14 are located an average of 200 kilometres from the coast and cover a combined area of 8.4 million acres in water depths ranging from 1,000-3,500 metres.

Following government approval of the contracts, ExxonMobil will begin exploration activities, including acquisition of seismic data and analysis. It will carry out the work programme as the operator with 90% interest with the state-owned Societé Mauritanienne des Hydrocarbures et de Patrimoine Minier (SMHPM) holding the remaining 10%.

‘These blocks further enhance ExxonMobil’s leading global deep-water acreage position,’ said Steve Greenlee who is the president of ExxonMobil Exploration Company. ‘We thank the government of Mauritania for the opportunity to evaluate the potential of this acreage using our expertise and advanced technology.’ On the Mauritanian side the agreements were signed by the Minister of Oil, Energy and Mines, Mohamed Ould Abdel Vetah.

Although first oil and gas is still years away the renewed offshore exploration success — and the arrival of oil majors such as BP and ExxonMobil — has led to considerable optimism about the country’s medium-term economic prospects. In the short term the latest IMF data confirms that the Mauritanian economy has already turned a corner. As a result of the world price of iron ore — which has long been the country’s most important export — growth collapsed from 6.1% in 2013 to only 0.9% in 2015. It has since inched up to 1.7% in 2016 and 3.8% in 2017.

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