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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Mauritania
Index
Mauritania was completely dependent on petroleum imports for
its commercial and electrical generating needs. That dependence
increased in the later 1980s as overexploitation of the country's
meager supply of woodlands led to further use of petroleum
products to meet domestic energy needs. In the early 1980s,
firewood provided one-half of gross domestic energy supply and,
with charcoal, over 90 percent of residential energy needs.
Annual firewood consumption was eight times greater than the
natural growth rate of the accessible forests. Between 1975 and
1985, overexploitation combined with drought damage and almostnonexistent reforestation programs to reduce forest areas by 30
percent overall. In some areas, forests were reduced by as much
as 50 percent. As a result of this declining firewood production
and the total dependence of the modern sector on petroleum-based
energy, the share of imported petroleum products in domestic
consumption increased from 33 percent in 1975 to 55 percent in
1983.
By 1983 petroleum products provided over one-half of all
energy supplies. Because of its use in electrical power
generation, mining, and transportation, diesel fuel was the most
important type of petroleum product, accounting for 75 percent of
consumption. It was followed in importance by gasoline (16
percent), jet and aviation fuels (7 percent), butane (1.3
percent), and kerosene (0.7 percent). Consumption of butane grew
rapidly in 1982 and 1983 in response to shortages of firewood for
cooking in urban areas. In the mid-1980s, Nouakchott and southern
Mauritania accounted for about 55 percent of total consumption of
petroleum products, with Nouadhibou and Zouîrât accounting for
virtually all the rest. In 1983 mining (plus the tiny
manufacturing sector) consumed 42 percent of all petroleum
products; transport, including fisheries, consumed 32.5 percent;
electricity generation, 20 percent; government and commerce, 3
percent; residential use, 2 percent; and agriculture, less than
0.5 percent.
By the mid-1980s, Mauritania's installed electrical
generating capacity was 162 megawatts. The National Electricity
and Water Company (Société Nationale d'Eau et d'Electricité--
SONELEC) accounted for only about 25 percent of that capacity,
and only half of SONELEC's generating capacity was considered
reliable. Nouakchott and Nouadhibou consumed 90 percent of
SONELEC's generated power. SNIM generated all its own electrical
needs for mining and for supply operations at Nouadhibou. The
plant that supplied power to the Guelbs mine and ore
beneficiation facility (56 megawatts) increased the nation's
total generating capacity by about 35 percent. Other selfproducers included an unknown number of small industrial,
commercial, and residential establishments that proliferated as
supplies from SONELEC became less reliable.
As a result of the serious technical, financial, and
managerial problems faced by SONELEC, the company underwent a
rehabilitation program under the 1985-88 Economic Recovery
Program. The program included the construction of a new, costsaving power plant in Nouakchott that was scheduled to begin
operations in 1990. By 1987 SONELEC's implementation of the
program included improving bill collection, cutting labor costs
by a 10 percent personnel reduction, and increasing prices by up
to 30 percent. In 1978 Mauritania completed construction of a
US$140 million oil refinery at Nouadhibou. The refinery operated
only briefly in 1982 and 1983 because of cost factors, shortages
of crude oil, and technical difficulties. Between 1984 and 1987,
the refinery underwent an Algerian-financed US$30 million
rehabilitation to allow the processing of light Algerian crude.
The project also included a butane bottling facility and a
desalinization plant. The refinery reopened in early 1987 with a
production capacity of 1 million tons per year. Refinery
officials signed a five-year contract with Algeria's state-owned
oil company to manage and market its products. A joint venture
that included Mauritania, certain private interests, and the
Algerian company was formed to bottle and market butane
domestically. The butane plant, located in Nouakchott, started
operations in 1987 with an annual capacity of 5,000 tons. Because
of the high cost of Mauritanian-produced butane, the plant
imported butane from Senegal for its operations.
Data as of June 1988
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