The man who headed Mauritania’s ministry of petroleum, energy and mines from 2010 to 2013, Taleb Ould Abdi Vall, has, according to our sources, resurfaced with a new oil and gas firm, Serval. This newcomer aims to win contracts with oil operators in Mauritania and neighbouring Senegal, both of which are seeing an oil boom thanks to the development of the giant cross-border Tortue field. Abdi Vall’s former advisor at the ministry, Mohamed Salem Boidaha, will be in charge of the general management of the firm. The two previously went into business together when they founded in 2014 E2M, a firm that offers electricity solutions to African countries (AEI 735). Serval’s board is exclusively made up of Mauritanian and Senegalese heavyweights, including former minister of the economy and chairman of Mauritania’s central bank, Sid’Ahmed Ould Raiss. The financier also led one of outgoing President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz’s electoral campaigns. Ahmedou Ould Abdallah, former minister and senior official for the United Nations, is also on the board. He joins Mohamed Saleck Ould Heyine, who was in charge the country’s mining jewel, SNIM, from 1984 to 2006, and the most influential of those to have held the post. Boidaha has been quick off the bat, wasting no time in meeting up with Tortue operator BP to enquire about its short-term needs.
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