QatarEnergy said that company is finally sealed its acquisition of 40% working interest from operator Shell in block C-10, offshore Mauritania. The Qatari NOC first announced the farm-in agreement in April 2023, with government approval and completion of the deal achieved by July.

QatarEnergy’s return to Mauritania (after previously partnering Total in two onshore blocks until 2014) comes ahead of the drilling of the Panacotta 1 NFW in late 2023. Noble Corporation’s “Noble Voyager” drillship has been contracted for the deepwater drilling programme, which will target a 1 Bbo carbonate prospect in the south of C-10. The unexplored carbonate play is also thought to extend southwards into adjacent block C-2, which Shell was awarded in February 2023, in partnership with NOC SMH. Shell de-risked the subsalt Cretaceous prospectivity in this area of the MSGBC Basin utilising a recent 3D survey, completed by CGG in Q1 2020.

Panacotta 1 will be next in the line of high impact exploration wells drilled by the majors over the past five years, which have been part-funded by the deep pockets of QatarEnergy. Across the African continent, QatarEnergy has formed strong partnerships with Shell, TotalEnergies, and Eni, acquiring non-operated equity ahead of frontier deepwater NFWs, such as: Brulpadda 1AX & Luiperd 1X in South Africa, Ondjaba 1 in Angola, Venus 1X & Graff 1X in Namibia, Mlima 1 in Kenya, Barracuda 1X in Cote d’Ivoire, and Raia 1 in Mozambique.