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Norwegian subsea contractor Ocean Installer has won a contract to assist BW Offshore in decommissioning the Berge Helene floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel on the Chinguetti field.Offshore operations will start in March/April, and the scope of the project includes disconnection, laydown and wet storage of flexible risers, umbilical and mooring lines from the FPSO.

Mauritania and Senegal signed an intergovernmental agreement in Nouakchott on 10 February, paving the way for development of the 15tcf Tortue gas discovery, that straddles their maritime border. “The two presidents, convinced of the importance of the role of energy in sustainable economic development, expressed their common desire to intensify cooperation in this sector.

Malaysia’s Petronas is preparing to cease production at the Chinguetti field as part of the decommissioning process. Sterling Energy said on 26 January the abandonment and decommissioning project was awaiting final government approval. The plan consists of two phases, with cessation of production and temporary well suspension undertaken from early 2018 to Q2 2018, followed by final plugging and abandonment of the well stock in 2019-20.

Finland’s Wärtsilä announced on 22 December that it has signed an engineering, procurement and construction contract with Tasiast Mauritanie Ltd, a subsidiary of Canadian gold miner Kinross Gold Corporation, to supply a 60MW turnkey power plant for the second phase expansion of the Tasiast mine. The power plant will operate using six Wärtsilä 32TS engines. Commercial operation of the phase two expansion, which will raise output to 30,000 t/d, is expected to begin in Q3 2020. Wärtsilä supplied engines for the 19MW power plant serving the Tasiast mine’s phase 1B project.

Kosmos Energy said on 12 December that the Lamantin-1 well on Block C-12 had failed to find significant hydrocarbons. Kosmos said the Campanian reservoir target was water-bearing. “We believe the prospect failed due to a lack of trap, related to a combination of up-dip sand pinch-out and top/base seal effectiveness. The well will now be plugged and abandoned and the well results integrated into the ongoing evaluation of the significant remaining prospectivity in Kosmos’ large acreage position,” Kosmos said.

With interest in Mauritania revived by Kosmos Energy’s gas discoveries, ExxonMobil has signed production-sharing agreements (PSAs) for three vacant deep-water blocks. Blocks C22, C17 and C14 are located an average of 200km offshore. Together they measure nearly 34,000km2, in water depths ranging from 1,000 metres to more than 3,500 metres.The new licences follow a farm-in to Kosmos’ blocks by BP, announced in December 2016, while in May, Total signed a new PSA for Block C7, previously operated by Dana Petroleum.

Kosmos Energy said on 30 October that its Hippocampe-1 exploration well in Block C-8 has failed to find hydrocarbons. The company said the well was drilled to a total depth of 5,500 metres in 2,600 metres of water. Well-developed reservoirs were encountered in the Lower Cenomanian and Albian targets but these proved to be water bearing. Kosmos said the prospect failed due to a lack of charge access in this part of the play fairway.

Tullow Oil and Sterling Energy have opted to relinquish Block C-10 after failing to agree an extension of the current exploration phase. Tullow had identified a drill-ready Neocomian carbonate prospect in water depths of 100 metres, but had not been able to drill before the current phase expires on 30 November.

Kosmos Energy has completed a drill stem test (DST) of the Tortue-1 well, which it said confirmed well deliverability, reservoir connectivity and fluid composition. The Atwood Achiever drillship, which conducted the DST, has now moved to Block C-8 offshore Mauritania to begin exploration drilling on the Hippocampe prospect.Kosmos said the Tortue-1 well flowed at a sustained, equipment-constrained rate of approximately 60mcf/d during the main, extended flow period, with minimal pressure drawdown, providing confidence in well designs that are each capable of producing approximately 200mcf/d.

Malaysia’s Barakah Offshore Petroleum Berhad announced on 19 June that its wholly owned subsidiary PBJV Group Sdn Bhd has received a letter of award from Samling Resources Sdn Bhd for the provision of a well intervention vessel, support vessel and services for the abandonment and decommissioning of the Chinguetti and Banda fields. The project involves temporary plugging of 15 wells. PBJV will provide a well intervention vessel, platform supply vessel and all coordination, technical support and supervisory work.

Kosmos Energy is acquiring 3D seismic over its Mauritania blocks. Announcing its 2016 results, the Dallas-based company said acquisition over blocks C6 and C12 began in January and is expected to complete within Q1. This follows a survey over blocks C8 and C13 begun in Q4 20016 which completed in January. Kosmos plans a new exploration drilling campaign starting mid-year on its acreage offshore Senegal and Mauritania, where it won a farm-in from BP in December (AE 337/13). On completion, BP will take over the operatorship of all four blocks and hold a 62% stake.

Keen to get back to exploration after a period of cost-cutting, Tullow Oil plans to acquire 3D seismic in June 2017 over the C3 and C10 blocks, where it has identified low-cost, high-impact prospects from existing seismic. “Just to sharpen up the image of some of them we’ll be acquiring some seismic this year for a drilling campaign in 2018-19,” exploration director Angus McCoss told a conference call to discuss the company’s 2016 results. “We are very purposefully not looking for deep-water gas, we are looking for oil, near the shelf edge.”

BP on 19 December announced a $916m farm-in agreement with Kosmos Energy to develop the Tortue gas project offshore Mauritania and Senegal. BP will take over the operatorship and a 62% working interest in Kosmos’ licences covering blocks C6, C8, C12 and C13 offshore Mauritania, as well as an effective 32.49% working interest in the licences covering the Saint Louis Offshore Profond and Cayar Offshore Profond blocks offshore Senegal. Kosmos will maintain 28% and 32.51% in the licences offshore Mauritania and Senegal respectively, and will continue as exploration operator.

Eight solar power plants in rural areas with combined capacity of 16.6MW have begun operating in Mauritania, Masdar, part of Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Development Company, has announced. The plants were developed by Masdar in Boutilimit, Aleg, Aioune, Akjoujt, Atar, El Chami, Boulenour, and Bani Chab. An official inauguration was attended by President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz at the Atar site on 28 November, Mauritania’s national day. Masdar built the 15MW Sheikh Zayed solar power plant in the capital Nouakchott, which was inaugurated in 2013.

Kosmos Energy plans a new drilling campaign next year exploring basin floor fans in deeper water outboard from its previous exploration in the hope of finding oil. “We are currently acquiring seismic data in southern Mauritania and northern Mauritania, and this seismic data has imaged giant to supergiant leads and prospects in a basin floor setting. We plan on drilling out a three-well programme at a minimum, starting in 2017, that will test a gross unrisked mean resource of 29bn boe,” Kosmos vice-president exploration Tracey Henderson told Global Pacific & Partners’ Africa Upstream conference on 1 November.