Cairn Pleased with 11th Senegal Discovery Well

UK independent Cairn Energy says it has found oil and gas at its SNE North-1 exploration well in the primary objective, plus oil in the deeper secondary objective in a separate accumulation to the SNE field. It is the operator's 11th successive discovery offshore Senegal.

Cairn CEO Simon Thomson described the drilling results as "encouraging in terms of further prospectivity and implications for the full block potential." He said an update on SNE field development plans would be provided at Cairn's interim results later this month.

The well is located in some 900 metres water depth, about 90km offshore in the Sangomar Deep Offshore block and 15km north of the SNE-1 find. It reached a total depth of 2,837m, was drilled ahead of schedule and under budget, and marks the end of a five-well 2017 drilling campaign, said Cairn. 

Further work is being undertaken to establish the potential commerciality of this discovery and to integrate the results with the block wide data, it said.

Its preliminary analysis of the SNE North-1 well to date is that it includes: 24 meters of gross hydrocarbon column across three intervals; 11m net condensate and gas in high quality reservoir in primary objective; 4m net oil in good quality reservoir in deeper secondary objective, with 35° API oil.

The joint venture, which also includes Australia's Woodside and FAR, plus state PetroSen, is reviewing the potential for further exploration drilling operations next year in their three-block area (Rufisque, Sangomar and Sangomar Deep -- or RSSD) offshore Senegal. 

FAR managing director Cath Norman said: "It is the 11th successful well drilled into the RSSD permits and the fifth in this year’s campaign. The SNE North-1 well results are very encouraging for the structural trend to the north of the SNE field and the broader exploration potential of our Senegal permit and our other blocks in the region." FAR is contesting Woodside's rights to stakes in the three licences. 

Mark Smedley