State-owned QatarEnergy has agreed to farm into Shell’s Block C-10 offshore Mauritania, where the UK supermajor is aiming to drill a high-impact wildcat later this year.

QatarEnergy disclosed in a statement that it has entered into an agreement with Shell to acquire a 40% working interest in Block C-10, which covers some 11,500 square kilometres approximately 50 kilometres off the Mauritania coast.

Water depths at the block range from 50 to 2000 metres. Subject to government approval, operator Shell will hold a 50% interest in the asset while SMH will have the remaining 10% stake.

Terms of QatarEnergy’s farm-in deal were not divulged in the statement.

Shell has been granted a six-month extension to its C-10 licence to enable it to drill the potentially plan-opening wildcat on C-10 which, it is understood, will be targeting oil potential in a carbonate play that extends into contiguous Block C-2 that the company was awarded earlier this year.

QatarEnergy Chief Executive Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, meanwhile, expressed his excitement over the deal.

“We’re excited about the opportunity to participate in Mauritania’s upstream sector which further builds on our exploration footprint in Africa, and we look forward to a successful exploration programme.

“We are delighted to have the opportunity to work with our strategic partner Shell and with SMH. We also look forward to collaborating with the Mauritanian government and thank them and our partners for their valuable support and cooperation.”
Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi

Woodside and subsequently Tullow Oil previously operated Block C-10, which is home to the Walata, Banda and Tevet discoveries.

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Block C-2 lies directly south of C-10 and is thought to hold similar prospectivity. It was Shell’s analysis of 6205 square kilometres of 3D seismic data acquired over C-10 that triggered its interest in C-2.

75% Operated Interest in the Exploration Block

The supermajor has a 75% operated interest in this exploration block in Mauritania’s Coastal basin and SMH is its sole partner.

Early this year, Shell struck a deal to explore Mauritania’s C2 block, the local oil ministry reports.

Mauritanian Minister of Petroleum, Mines & Energy Abdessalam Ould Mohamed Saleh signed the production-sharing contract (PSC) in Nouakchott, while Shell Vice President for deepwater exploration, Bill Langin, represented the company.

Shell committed to carrying out seismic and exploration in the first phase. Drilling would come at a later date. Mauritania will hold 25% of the block’s equity, the MPME said.

Ould Mohamed Saleh welcomed Shell’s decision to move into the new block, saying it demonstrated Mauritania’s promotion of its oil sector.

While work in C2 is just beginning, the MPME said Shell is planning to drill another licence in the coastal area before the end of 2023.

Shell entered Mauritania in 2018, when it signed up to explore the C10 and C19 blocks with 90% stakes. At the time, the company said this marked an entry into the West African Atlantic Margin.

The company acquired 6,205 square km of 3D seismic in Mauritania, with work starting in 2019. The seismic may shed light on both C2 and C10. Shell’s new block is just south of C10. The company no longer holds C19.

Shell’s local plans came up in the Mauritanian Council of Ministers meeting last week. The council agreed to rearrange the exploration phases on C10 to help Shell explore other blocks in the basin.

Authorising the MPME to sign the PSC with Shell on C2, the cabinet said the award of the adjacent block would encourage the prospectivity and potential joint exploitation of the two blocks. There was discussion in 2022 of bringing a partner in, but nothing appears to have materialised.

Tullow Oil previously worked on the C2 licence. It shot seismic in the area in 2012 but relinquished the area soon after.

Capricorn Energy is facing a drill-or-drop decision for its C7 block in Mauritania. The company has talked about the Dauphin prospect on the licence potentially holding 1 billion barrels of liquids. However, given the change of management at Capricorn recently following a failed merger process, it is unclear whether this will move ahead.