Mauritania Returns Former GTA Gas Deal Minister to Oil Post

Mauritania appointed Mohamed Ould Abdel Vetah as energy and petroleum minister in a government reshuffle announced Saturday, marking the return of a former minister who was in office during a key gas sales deal.

Vetah was oil minister when Mauritania and Senegal signed a gas sales agreement with BP Plc and Kosmos Energy for the Greater Tortue Ahmeyim project in 2020. Before that, he was the general manager of state gas company SOMAGAZ and worked as a consultant for Total E&P Mauritania.

GTA began producing gas in December 2024 and exported its first LNG cargo in April 2025.

Vetah replaces Mohamed Ould Khaled, who had been in the post since 2024.

After the reshuffle, Codioro Moussa N’Guenore remains as finance minister, according to a presidential decree published by the state news agency AMI. Edy Ould Zeine continues as minister of mines and industry.

Aïssata Lam, who was the founding director general of Mauritania’s Investment Promotion Agency, APIM, before helping lead the country’s campaign to elect Sidi Ould Tah as president of the African Development Bank in May 2025, was named minister of fisheries, maritime infrastructure and ports.