Can gas discoveries fuel Mauritania’s economic growth?

It has been a decade since Mauritania discovered its first natural gas field, Grande Tortue Ahmeyim (GTA), on the maritime border with Senegal. A second, even larger gas field, wholly within Mauritania’s territorial waters, BirAllah was discovered in 2019. Both gas fields are gamechangers with enough potential to not only fuel the domestic needs for the two countries but to also dramatically alter global supply opportunities too.

So, while Mauritania doesn’t make the news that often, it was of note that earlier this year British energy giant BP began producing gas for the first time from the Greater Tortue Ahmeyim project, with an annual production capacity forecast of 2.3mn tonnes. So important is GTA that both Senegal and Mauritania have dubbed it a “project of strategic national importance”.

Mauritania’s government is betting on GTA to be a foundation for growth in 2025, as it sees a broader slowdown in other extractive activities, particularly its mainstay, iron ore.  According to the IMF, GDP growth this year is expected to be 4.2 per cent, down from 4.6 percent, largely because of a fall in gold production as certain mines reach the end of their productive cycles, So, the arrival of GTA gas is an obvious boon, with the first phase of the project estimated to generate around $150 million a year, and much greater returns expected further down the line.

While this is good news, the western Sahel state of Mauritania features on both the United Nations list of Least Developed Countries and the US-based Fund for Peace’s Fragile States Index. However, Mauritania stands out as more stable than its neighbors, and while the country has had a long tradition of military interventions in politics, that all changed in 2019, with power successfully transferred through the ballot box. the first time since independence in 1960.

Like anywhere, challenges remain and in a recent interview with African Business, Chemsdine Sow Deina, Mauritania’s director general of petroleum and low carbon hydrogen, said that “Infrastructure development is one of our biggest hurdles to overcome, especially in the Taoudenni Basin, the largest intra-atomic basin in Africa,” explains Deina. “This area is relatively underexplored, covering 500,000 square kilometres with just five wells drilled so far. Roads and logistics are essential for further exploration, and this area, in particular, needs infrastructural support.”

Which is polite way of saying Mauritania needs considerable FDI to help its energy ambitions to develop. Amid ongoing geopolitical turbulence and Europe’s search for new energy sources, Mauritania’s gas reserves arrive at a critical moment. For a nation seemingly on the edges of regional growth and development, projects like GTA are spearheading hopes of economic transformation and long-term prosperity.

*Kieran Baker is an Emmy award winning journalist who has started up various networks including Al Jazeera English, Bloomberg TV Africa and TRT World.