The company Total is about to buy the shares of the capital held by British Petrolum (BP) on the gas field Turtle / Ahmeyin, located 125 kilometers off the coast between Senegal and Mauritania, said Thursday, April 05, sources of Calame.
According to Calame, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the French company TOTAL, Patrick Pouyanné secretly negotiates with Mauritania and BP, the purchase of some offshore research permits on this site.
Moreover, this explains the interview, held Wednesday between the Mauritanian President, Mouhamed Ould Abdel Aziz and the CEO of this structure.
This acquisition would allow TOTAL to hold the majority stake in this site. And the coup BP would end up with a symbolic participation of 1%.
This takeover comes in a context where the stranglehold of the French firm on Mauritanian and Senegalese oil is criticized by many specialists from both countries.
Some observers have reservations about the choice of TOTAL at the expense of other international oil companies, offering the best deals.
It should be noted that Mauritania and Senegal signed in early February in Nouakchott a cooperation agreement for the exploitation of this deposit, estimated at 450 billion cubic meters, equivalent to 14% of Nigerian gas reserves.
At the end of this agreement both parties agreed to make an initial split of 50% to 50% (taxes and share revenue between the two states and the oil companies).
Recall that BP holds 62% stake in the 4 blocks in Mauritania, C6, C8, C12, C13.
For its part, the French company is linked to Mauritania by three exploration and production contracts in blocks C9, C7 and C18.