For a few weeks, the rumor has been running. Exxonmobil is packing up to leave Mauritania. Today, the rumor has turned into near certainty after a meeting between officials of the US major and the Mauritanian Minister of Oil. The meeting mainly focused on the practical modalities of abandoning exploration activities in the deep offshore of the coastal basin of Mauritania.
In the absence of an official statement from the parties, this information remains in the conditional.
Recall that ExxonMobil Exploration and Production Mauritania Deepwater Ltd had signed three oil and gas exploitation and production contracts with the Mauritanian state. The contracts covered the offshore blocks C14, C17 and C22 of the Mauritanian basin located about 200 kilometers off Mauritania. Their combined area is nearly 34,000 km² (nearly 8.4 million acres) in water depths ranging from 1,000 meters to 3,500 meters, or 3,300 feet to 11,500 feet.
“These blocks reinforce Exxon Mobil’s position as world leader with regard to its deep-sea exploration areas,” Steve Greenlee said at the time, adding: “we thank the Mauritanian government for giving us the opportunity. to assess the potential of these blocks using our experience and state-of-the-art technology ”.
In this case, this opportunity has apparently not been convincing, which suddenly, is a real blow to the hope aroused by the enthusiasm of the oil majors vis-à-vis the Mauritanian offshore.
