BP, Kosmos target Tortue FID by year-end

Kosmos Energy and BP expect to make a Final Investment Decision (FID) for the Tortue project around the end of this year, following the signing of an inter-governmental cooperation agreement between Mauritania and Senegal.

According to Kosmos’ Monday statement, the governments of Mauritania and Senegal have signed the Inter-Governmental Cooperation Agreement (ICA) which enables the development of the cross-border Tortue natural gas field to continue moving forward.

The Tortue field is estimated to contain more than 15 trillion cubic feet of recoverable gas.

With this agreement in place, Kosmos expects the FID for the Greater Tortue project around the end of 2018 and is aiming for first gas in 2021, the company said.

Minister of Energy, Petroleum and Mines Mohamed Abdel Vetah of Mauritania and Minister of Petroleum and Energy Mansour Elimane Kane of Senegal signed the agreement in a joint meeting during the Presidential Summit held in Nouakchott, Mauritania on February 9, 2018.

Commenting on the approval, Kosmos chairman and chief executive officer, Andrew G. Inglis, said: “Kosmos congratulates Mauritania, Senegal, and their respective ministries and national oil companies for working together so effectively to reach an agreement that enables their shared gas resources to be developed quickly and efficiently for the benefit of both countries.

“The innovative near-shore LNG concept being used for Tortue positions the development as one of the lowest cost green-field LNG projects in the world. We look forward to working with BP and our national oil company partners to continue the front-end engineering design process that will enable a final investment decision around the end of 2018.”

To remind, the U.S. engineering company KBR was awarded pre-front end engineering design (FEED) and project support services contracts by BP for the development of the Tortue / Ahmeyim field offshore Mauritania and Senegal in August 2017.

Under this contract, KBR was hired to provide pre-FEED and project support covering design of the subsea, pre-treatment floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) facility, inshore hub/terminal, and interfaces for floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) for the Tortue Project.

In a separate statement on Monday, BP said it has completed significant engineering design towards the Tortue/Ahmeyim project, an integrated gas value chain and near-shore liquefied natural gas (LNG) development which would export LNG to global markets as well as supplying gas to Senegal and Mauritania.

Commenting on the ICA, Bernard Looney, BP Upstream chief executive, commented: “This is an important milestone for this innovative gas project which reflects the strong, cooperative partnership between Mauritania and Senegal. We look forward to continuing to work with both countries and our partners, Kosmos Energy, Petrosen and SMHPM, towards a final investment decision.”

Cross-border unitization

According to Kosmos, the ICA is informed by industry best practice for the development of cross-border resources, based on the landmark Frigg Agreement of 1976 between the United Kingdom and Norway.

Kosmos further explained that the agreement between Mauritania and Senegal provides for development of the Tortue field through cross-border unitization, with a 50%-50% initial split of resources and revenues, and a mechanism for future equity redeterminations based on actual production and other technical data.

BP entered into a partnership with Kosmos Energy in Mauritania and Senegal by signing an agreement to acquire a significant working interest, including operatorship, in December 2016.

BP deepened its investment in Senegal in April 2017 by acquiring the full 30% minority participating interests in two offshore blocks in Senegal; Saint-Louis Profond and Cayar Profond.

On completion of the agreements, BP’s participating interest in the Senegal blocks is close to 60%. BP’s partners Kosmos and Petrosen have close to 30% and 10% interest, respectively.

Offshore Energy Today Staff