Oil giant Shell has agreed two production sharing contracts with Mauritania for the exploration of two offshore blocks.
Following government approvals of the contracts, Shell said it will look to set up an office in Nouakchott and begin exploration activities, starting with reprocessing and analysis of existing seismic data and acquisition of new data.
Andy Brown, Shell’s upstream director, said: “This move represents Shell’s entry into the West African Atlantic Margin exploration basin, which has significant potential. We look forward to working with the government and people of Mauritania as we bring our expertise and technical capability to help develop the country’s emerging energy sector.”
The Mauritanian minister of oil, energy and mining, Mohamed Ould Abdel Vetah, said: “Shell’s new entry in the Mauritania offshore area represents an important added value to the exploration activities and will contribute to maintain the momentum for developing the energy sector in Mauritania.”
Shell will operate the the exploration programme with 90% interest with Société Mauritanienne des Hydrocarbures et de Patrimoine Minier, the national oil company of Mauritania holding the remaining 10% stake.
The government Mauritania and Shell confirmed that they will also work on further exploration within the basin.