Cairn Energy submits offshore evaluation plan for Senegal
EDINBURGH, Scotland -- Cairn Energy and its joint venture partners have submitted a three-year evaluation work plan to the Government of Senegal.
The plan incorporates an initial program of three firm and three optional exploration and appraisal wells, with drilling starting in the fourth quarter of 2015 in Cairn’s new basin play offshore Senegal focused on the acreage around the SNE-1 discovery well.
Cairn has estimated that the existing two discoveries and the currently identified prospects and leads have an estimated mean risked resource base of more than a billion barrels.
The Ocean Rig Athena, a 7th generation dual activity drillship, has been selected for the drilling program. The rig is currently contracted to ConocoPhillips in Angola. Cairn is in the final stages of working with its joint venture partners to finalize the rig contract and associated support services, which are being tendered to secure current market pricing.
The firm three-well program is currently planned to include two appraisal wells of the SNE-1 discovery, which will core and test the reservoir, as well as one shelf exploration well. There will also be a 2,000 km2 3D seismic data acquisition campaign over the Sangomar and Rufisque blocks to help fully map the prospectivity of the contract area.
A work program and budget for the three optional wells will be presented to the joint venture partners in the third quarter of 2015. Targets for these wells will be drawn from a combination of further evaluation of the SNE-1 discovery, additional exploration in the shelf region, and exploration in the acreage around FAN-1. Drilling plans for these wells will be subject to ongoing FAN studies and the results of the first three firm wells.
Simon Thomson, CEO of Cairn Energy said, “Cairn made two significant discoveries offshore Senegal in 2014, proving a hydrocarbon system in a new and emerging Atlantic Margin basin. We are excited about the exploration and appraisal opportunity of this world class asset. We have now submitted a three-year evaluation work plan to the Government of Senegal, which is designed to lay the foundation for a long-term multi-field, multi phase exploitation plan. Our focus will be to add value in Senegal within a balanced, well funded company.”
