British oil and gas giant BP has loaded the first cargo of liquefied natural gas ( LNG ) for export from its Greater Tortue Ahmeyim ( GTA ) Phase 1 project offshore Mauritania and Senegal. This follows the flow of first gas from the project, announced earlier this year.

This first LNG cargo at GTA is the third major upstream project start-up of the year for BP. It is the first of ten expected by the end of 2027, in line with the firm‘s strategy of growing its upstream oil and gas business.

“I would like to thank the governments of Mauritania and Senegal, and our partners – Kosmos Energy, Petrosen and SMH – for their ongoing support and collaboration,” says BP’s executive vice president for production and operations Gordon Birrell.

GTA is one of the deepest offshore developments in Africa, with gas resources in water depths of up to 2,850 metres, and has been declared a project of strategic national importance by the governments of Mauritania and Senegal. Once fully commissioned, GTA Phase 1 is expected to produce around 2.4 million tonnes of LNG per year to feed into global energy needs, with an allocation of gas volumes also to be made available to the domestic markets of both countries.

The GTA FPSO ( floating production storage and offloading ) – approximately 40 kilometres offshore – removes water, condensates and impurities before the gas is transferred to the project’s floating liquefied natural gas ( FLNG ) vessel, 10 kilometres offshore, to be cryogenically cooled, liquefied and stored prior to transfer to LNG carriers.