New delay announced in the Grand Tortue gas project on the Mauritian-Senegalese maritime border. Commissioning and production postponed to the end of September 2024 at best, announce Dakar and Nouakchott. The two countries are also launching a financial audit, because the additional construction costs will have an impact on their income.
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A cumulative delay of 28 months now for the Grand Tortue project. The BP company owns 61% of the project while Senegal and Mauritania will share 10% of gas revenues. The first phase of work saw an explosion in costs, around 60% of the initial investments. To see more clearly, Dakar and Nouakchott have decided to launch an audit. Because the fallout will be weaker than expected.
“ In the diagram, there is the “cost-oil”, that is to say the cost of oil. After removing the oil cost, there is the benefit, the profit. So, you have to keep a close eye on the cost to know what you’ll get behind. We must draw attention to points of vigilance, so that we get the maximum possible benefits, or in any case that we optimize, so that we do not lose out. », Explains Antoine Diome, Minister of Oil and Energy of Senegal.
The Mauritanian Minister of the Economy, Abdessalam Ould Mohamed Saleh reminds us that the financial benefits will initially focus on the repayment of the debts of the companies having invested in the project. He assures that the benefits will only materialize several years after the start of gas extraction.
The International Monetary Fund, for its part, still expects Mauritanian growth to triple from 2025 thanks to gas exports.
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