Since the gas discoveries of 2015, the Ministry of Petroleum has increased calls for international experts to advise it on various aspects of Mauritania's future strategy. French groups have earned the lion's share of this market

The galaxy of French consultants that surround the Mauritanian Ministry of Petroleum, led by Abdessalem Ould Mohamed Saleh - a former executive of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) - expanded slightly at the end of November. The French design office specializing in training and human resources Sfere has won a contract worth 210,000 euros, which will be dedicated to carrying out a feasibility study for the creation of an institute specialized in oil and gas technologies in Mauritania

World Bank support

This contract is financed by the World Bank, which granted the country a $20 million loan as part of a project to support gas project negotiations (PADG). Very present in Africa in advising governmental institutions, Sfere is managed by the French engineer Patrice

The company thus joins the list of French consulting firms well established in Nouakchott. One of the most influential is the Parisian Okan, whose consultant Amaury de Féligonde supports the Mauritanian authorities in particular on the sensitive issue of local content, i.e. the part that will be reserved for local companies in the gas industry. This sector has been developing since 2015 thanks to discoveries made on the cross-border deposit with Senegal Grand Tortue Ahmeyim (GTA), developed by

However, the Covid-19 pandemic and the change in strategy by BP, which wants to reduce its carbon footprint and invest in renewable energies, should significantly delay the start of production, which is now expected in 2025 (Africa Intelligence, 09/12/20).

IFP attacks Nouakchott

Another French company to gravitate towards Minister Saleh: the French Institute for Petroleum and New Energies (IFPEN) and its training subsidiary IFP Training, responsible in early 2020 for providing teams from the Ministry of Petroleum with training relating to gas project negotiations (Africa Intelligence of 18/02/20). IFP also maintains strong ties with the Ecole Supérieure Polytechnique de Nouakchott, whose students should receive engineering training under the supervision of IFP Training

One of the largest consulting contracts awarded under PADG went to the joint venture Tractebel (Belgium) - De Gaulle Fleurance & Associates (France), which last March won a 15-month contract to analyze the marketing of LNG worldwide, worth 785,000 euros. The Franco-Belgian joint venture has thus replaced Enercap, a company based in Lyon (France), which was initially chosen to advise Mauritania on LNG market analysis