The Orca-1 discovery offshore Mauritania is this year's largest gas discovery, Rystad Energy has confirmed.

The Orca-1 discovery offshore Mauritania, announced by Kosmos Energy on Monday, is this year’s largest gas discovery, Rystad Energy has confirmed.

“The deepest and largest discovery so far this year, Rystad Energy estimates Orca-1 holds around 1.3 billion barrels of oil equivalent (boe) of recoverable resources,” Palzor Shenga, a senior analyst on Rystad Energy’s upstream team, said in a company statement.

“This type of significant discovery, along with the projects lined up, could help establish the African nation as a major player and exporter in the industry,” Shenga added.

The find lies in the MSGBC (Mauritania-Senegal-Gambia-Bissau-Conakry) basin, which Rystad Energy noted has grabbed headlines recently “thanks to a series of world-class discoveries” in Senegal and Mauritania.

According to Rystad Energy, Mauritania and Senegal are slowly becoming “world class” LNG centers, “with three different planned hubs containing around 10 million tons per annum, including the Yakaar-Terenga hub, Tortue hub and the Bira Allah hub”.

Mauritania now ties Guyana for the second most discovered volumes this year, trailing closely behind Russia with 1.5 billion boe, Rystad Energy highlighted.

Kosmos Energy revealed Monday that a “major” gas discovery had been made through the offshore Mauritania Orca-1 exploration well.

The BirAllah area situated Orca-1 well, which targeted a previously untested Albian play, exceeded pre-drill expectations and encountered 118 feet of net gas pay in “excellent quality reservoirs”, according to Kosmos.

In total, Kosmos believes that Orca-1 and the original Marsouin-1 discovery well have de-risked up to 50 trillion cubic feet of gas initially in place from the Cenomanian and Albian plays in the BirAllah area.

Located around 77 miles offshore Mauritania, the Orca-1 well was drilled in approximately 8,234 feet of water to a total measured depth of around 17,276 feet. Partners in the BirAllah gas hub include SMHPM, BP and Kosmos.

Rystad Energy describes itself as an independent energy research and business intelligence company. The business is headquartered in Oslo, Norway.

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