Cairn-led JV makes oil discovery offshore Senegal

Aug. 7, 2017
A Cairn Energy PLC-led joint venture has continued its success offshore Senegal with an oil discovery with its SNE North-1 wildcat well drilled in the Sirius prospect to the north of the recently discovered SNE oil field.

A Cairn Energy PLC-led joint venture has continued its success offshore Senegal with an oil discovery with its SNE North-1 wildcat well drilled in the Sirius prospect to the north of the recently discovered SNE oil field.

SNE North-1 encountered oil in three separate intervals and it is possible a fourth reservoir zone also is present in the prospect.

JV member FAR Ltd., Perth, reported that the intervals include an oil and gas column in the S520 zone that is the high-quality, lower reservoir in the SNE field. SNE North-1 encountered this reservoir deeper than SNE field oil-water contact.

The JV recovered samples of 35° gravity oil, which is lighter than the oil in SNE, as well as water and gas to surface.

SNE North-1 is in 900 m of water about 90 km offshore in the Sangomar Deep Offshore block and 15 km north of the SNE-1 discovery well.

The combine is now working to determine the extent of the hydrocarbon accumulation and integrate the results with block-wide data gathered so far. FAR believes the well result has positive implications for further exploration potential to the north along the structural trend containing SNE field.

FAR says the preliminary analysis indicates SNE North-1 has encountered in excess of 24 m of gross hydrocarbon column across at least three intervals. Of that, in excess of 16 m of net hydrocarbons are in high quality reservoirs.

The well has been plugged and abandoned as planned. It is the last well in the five-well 2017 drilling campaign and the rig Stella DrillMAX is being released.

The JV is reviewing the potential for further exploration drilling in 2018 within the Rufisque, Sangomar, and Sangomar Deep production-sharing contract area.