Senegal and Mauritania's GTA Partnership Sets Benchmark for MSGBC Collaboration
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Senegal and Mauritania have established the MSGBC basin's leading model for cross-border energy cooperation. The Greater Tortue Ahmeyim (GTA) project, which straddles the two countries' maritime border, made both nations LNG exporters in 2025 and operates at full capacity under the joint stewardship of their governments and national oil companies. As the partners direct GTA gas toward domestic power generation, the project demonstrates that regional integration can reinforce national energy sovereignty.
The participation of Senegal's Minister of Energy and Petroleum Dr. El Hadji Abdourahmane Diouf and Mauritania's Minister of Energy and Petroleum Mohamed Ould Khaled at MSGBC Oil, Gas & Power 2026 in Dakar this December will place this partnership before the investors shaping the basin's next phase of development.
Both governments hold a direct stake in GTA through their national oil companies Petrosen and the Société Mauritanienne des Hydrocarbures (SMH), which partner with operator bp and international energy company Kosmos Energy.
The partnership is now advancing toward domestic gas supply. Under the proposed Phase 1+ development, existing GTA infrastructure would deliver gas to Senegal and Mauritania for power generation, with heads of terms for domestic sales targeted in 2026. Senegal is constructing a gas-fired power plant near Saint-Louis, to be connected to the GTA hub terminal by a new pipeline, while Mauritania has signed an agreement with ACWA Power for a 230 MW gas-fired plant at N'Diago. Mauritania projects that increased gas production will support economic growth of 5.1% in 2026.
Sustained ministerial coordination has ensured that these national programs advance in parallel. In June 2026, Minister Diouf traveled to Nouakchott as special envoy of President Bassirou Diomaye Faye and co-chaired a coordination meeting with Minister Khaled on connecting Senegal's gas network to GTA infrastructure. Minister Khaled used the session to call for closer cooperation on the domestic utilization of the field's gas. The talks followed a May 2026 technical agreement between the two governments and bp, and build on a 2025 protocol establishing common local content rules for the project.
Both governments measure the partnership's success in national terms. Speaking in Dakar on October 1, Minister Diouf stated that Senegal's objective is to convert its oil and gas resources into competitive energy for the domestic economy. Mauritania expects approximately 300 MW of additional locally generated power to enter its national grid by the end of 2026. The two countries also share a long institutional history of joint resource management. Together with Mali, they founded the Senegal River Basin Development Organization in 1972, and its hydropower facilities have supplied a shared regional grid for more than two decades.
Organized by Energy Capital & Power under the High Patronage of President Faye, MSGBC Oil, Gas & Power 2026 takes place December 1–3 at the Centre International de Conférences Abdou Diouf. With both GTA host governments represented at the ministerial level, the event will offer the wider MSGBC basin a reference point for structuring its next shared developments.
For more information and to register as a delegate, visit www.msgbcoilgasandpower.com.