LNG Production Milestone at Greater Tortue Ahmeyim Project

The Greater Tortue Ahmeyim LNG project partners initiated LNG production at the bp-operated venture off Mauritania and Senegal's coast. The Phase I development, processing 500 million cubic feet of gas daily, marks a significant achievement for West African energy production, with an expected annual output of 2.3 million tonnes of LNG over two decades.

Kosmos Energy announced on Monday the achievement of another significant milestone with the commencement of LNG production at the bp-operated Greater Tortue Ahmeyim (GTA) project, located offshore Mauritania and Senegal.

Phase I development

In a statement, the company confirmed that on 31 December 2024, gas from the first phase of the project had begun flowing from wells to a floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel as part of the commissioning process. The FPSO is expected to process over 500 million standard cubic feet of gas per day. It will remove water, condensate, and impurities from the gas before transferring it via pipeline to the FLNG vessel at the Hub Terminal approximately 10km offshore. At the FLNG vessel, the gas will be cryogenically cooled, liquefied, and stored before being transferred to LNG carriers for export, with a portion allocated to meet the growing demand in the host countries. The GTA Phase I development is anticipated to produce around 2.3 million tonnes of LNG annually for over 20 years.

Kosmos is a specialised deepwater exploration and production company with a diversified oil and gas production portfolio from key assets offshore Ghana, Equatorial Guinea, Mauritania, Senegal and the U.S.?Gulf of Mexico.

Financial milestone

The commencement of liquefaction marks the point at which Kosmos will start recognising gas entitlement production in its quarterly statements. Kosmos highlighted that revenue recognition and the generation of cash flow from the project will follow once the first LNG cargo is lifted. BP indicated a yet-to-be-identified LNG carrier was to arrive later this quarter to export the initial cargo.

Kosmos Energy, which holds a 27pct stake in the GTA project, underscored this development as a major step forward. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Andrew G. Inglis commented: “First LNG is another major milestone for Kosmos, the GTA partnership and the governments of Mauritania and Senegal. We are looking forward to the accelerated ramp-up of LNG production and the first LNG cargo lifting during the first quarter.”

West African production

This achievement not only highlights the operational progress at the GTA project but also sets the stage for the project's next phase, as Kosmos Energy moves closer to realising full production and revenue generation from the GTA asset base. Notably, GTA Phase I will contribute a significant amount of LNG production to West African output, which has been on a declining trend since mid-2020, mainly due to a protracted production decline in Nigeria. Although annual regional exports grew by 1.81mmt (8pct) to 23.32mmt in 2024 – the region’s first overall year-on-year growth since 2020 – they were still down by 5.22mmt (-18pct) from the 28.54mmt we recorded in 2020. Earlier, in 2023, they had dropped by 0.70mmt (-3pct) to 21.51mmt from 22.21mmt in 2022.