London – BP Plc’s Greater Tortue Ahmeyim project started producing gas from offshore fields in Senegal and Mauritania, and both countries expect deliveries soon in a boost to economic growth.
The $4.8 billion GTA project, developed by BP and Kosmos Energy Ltd., is estimated to produce about 2.3 million tons of liquefied natural gas a year in its first phase. The gas will flow from wells in deep water — depths of up to 2,850 meters — to a floating storage vessel where it will be processed.
Flows to the floating project have commenced and LNG deliveries are now expected to begin “very soon,” Senegal and Mauritania’s energy ministries said in a joint statement on Dec. 31.
Exports of gas from the long-delayed project may provide another fillip to Senegal after the West African nation began exporting oil last year. That helped lift the growth rate to a record 8.9% in the three months through September and the International Monetary Fund forecasts the economy will grow 9.3% this year.
The expansion provides an opportunity to fix public finances in a nation that’s likely to see a budget shortfall of more than 11% of GDP in 2024. Senegal plans to reduce its budget deficit to 3% of gross domestic product by 2027 by cutting government expenditure and boosting tax collections from 2025, Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko said last week.
The GTA project is expected to produce LNG for more than 20 years, according to BP’s website.
*Paul Burkhardt – Bloomberg
