Triton :: Mauritania

Blocks 24, 25, 31 and 32 offshore Mauritania

Triton owns 35% of the shares in the capital of Mauritania International Petroleum Inc. ("MIPI"), a British Virgin Islands corporation which, through its wholly owned subsidiaries Blue Chip Energy SA ("BCE") and 4M Energy SA ("4ME"), is the Operator for Blocks 24, 25, 31 and 32 offshore Mauritania, with 100% working interest. The Production Sharing Agreements (PSA) were ratified by the Government of Mauritania, including decrees from both the Parliament and the President, in June 2007.

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These four Blocks are located on the abyssal plain, in water depths of some 2,900 m. A reconnaissance 2D seismic survey was shot in the deepwater area of Mauritania in 2001 by Veritas DGC Ltd. MIPI has obtained several of these lines as shown. No wells have been drilled in the deepwater area, but one of the reconnaissance lines has been tied to the V-1 well, one of the earlier wells drilled in shallower waters to the east, in the early 1990's.

In 1998 the Mauritanian Government awarded its first ever offshore concessions to Dana Petroleum plc, in partnership with Hardman Resources Ltd, Woodside and British Borneo Oil and Gas;
In February 2006 Mauritania began to export oil for the first time in its history;
Oil production is a relatively new industry for Mauritania, however, the continental shelf of
Western Africa has attracted oil prospectors for several years, with exploration in offshore
Senegal, The Gambia, Western Sahara and the Canary Islands;
Woodside, Hardman Resources Ltd, Tullow Oil plc and Dana Petroleum plc are all companies that have been instrumental in the last decade in assisting Mauritania to achieve its oil status;
Strategically, hydrocarbon resources within Mauritania can cost effectively be exported to the US Gulf Coast markets;
The Mauritanian Government is seeking to increase international investment in its oil acreage; with over 3 million inhabitants, the Government is struggling with widespread poverty and the country's main economic sectors - fisheries and agriculture - are seen as insufficient to provide the population with wealth. Oil production could therefore have an enormous impact on the country's relatively few inhabitants.

Hydrocarbons Potential of Blocks 24, 25, 31 and 32

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Triton believes that deepwater Mauritania has similar geological characteristics to the Gulf of Mexico. Several of the potential structures within the portfolio of MIPI are large enough to contain more than one billion barrels of oil each.