Cairn Energy updates market on offshore Senegal drilling
Cairn Energy announced the results of the SNE North-1 exploration well, offshore Senegal, on Monday, confirming that the well encountered oil and gas in the primary objective and oil in the deeper secondary objective, in a separate accumulation to the SNE field.
The FTSE 250 firm said further work was being undertaken to establish the potential commerciality of the discovery, and to integrate the results with the block-wide data gathered to date.
It said the well result had positive implications for further hydrocarbon potential to the north of the structural trend containing the SNE field and SNE North-1 discovery well, as well as for broader exploration potential in the permit.
“The SNE North well results are encouraging in terms of further prospectivity and implications for the full block potential offshore Senegal,” said Cairn’s CEO Simon Thomson.
The well is located in around 900 metres water depth, 90 kilometres offshore in the Sangomar Deep Offshore block and 15km north of the SNE-1 discovery.
Cairn said the well reached a total depth of 2,837m, adding that operations had again been “safely and successfully completed” ahead of schedule and under budget, following drilling and logging.
“We are delighted to have completed a safe and successful drilling programme in Senegal this year with the Stena DrillMAX,” Simon Thomson added.
“An update on resources and the SNE development plans will be provided at our interim results later this month.”
Cairn said its preliminary analysis indicated around 24m of gross hydrocarbon column across three intervals, along with 11m net condensate and gas in high quality reservoir in the primary objective.
It also found 4m of net oil in “good quality reservoir” in the deeper secondary objective, occurring below the SNE field Oil Water Contact.
The company said it found a slightly lighter oil type of 35° API than that encountered in the SNE Field.
A full set of oil, water and gas samples was recovered to the surface, Cairn’s board said.
After completing conventional logging, a series of Modular Formation Dynamic Testing (MDT) mini-fracs were obtained across the reservoir section to help calibrate the geomechanical model of the SNE field and aid development well design.
The board said it marked the end of the five-well 2017 drilling campaign.
SNE North-1 was now being plugged and abandoned and the Stena DrillMAX rig would be released.
The joint venture was now reviewing the potential for further exploration drilling operations next year within the Rufisque, Sangomar and Sangomar Deep Production Sharing Contract area.