SNE-5 starts drilling offshore Senegal

On Jan 23, 2017

Drilling the SNE-5 well offshore Senegal started on Saturday 21 January, 2017.
SNE-5 and SNE-6, to be drilled by the Stena DrillMAX, are located in the southern area of the SNE oil field. Oil flow and interference testing will evaluate the deliverability and connectivity of the SNE upper reservoir units.
Information from these wells will further fine-tune the SNE development concept, which currently incorporates a phased development to capture the large and extensive resource base.

Drilling of the SNE-5 appraisal well, offshore Senegal, began on Saturday 21 January.

SNE-5, and the following well SNE-6 will be drilled by the drill ship Stena DrillMAX and will evaluate the upper SNE reservoir units, specifically reservoir connectivity and deliverability, by conducting oil flow tests, including interference testing.

The two new wells follow the highly successful SNE-2, SNE-3, BEL-1 and SNE-4 appraisal drilling
program completed on the SNE oil field in June 2016.

SNE-5 and SNE-6 are being drilled to help improve the joint venture understanding of the characteristics of the upper SNE reservoir units and ensure potential development wells in these units are placed to optimise oil recovery and maximise value per well.

SNE-5 will now be drilled to total depth, after which a wireline logging and drill stem testing (DST) program is to take place. The extent and composition of the DST program will be finalised following examination of the log data from the well.

SNE-5 is located in the southern area of the SNE oil field approximately 2km south east of SNE-3. SNE-6 is to be drilled immediately after the completion of SNE-5.

FAR Managing Director, Cath Norman, said,

“SNE-5 is the first of two new wells that will further evaluate the potential of the SNE oil field, specifically to improve our understanding of the upper SNE reservoir units and their contribution to the conceptual development plans for this world class asset.

The Stena DrillMAX has been contracted for the two firm wells at highly favourable rates reflecting the current low-cost rig contracting environment.

FAR and its Senegal joint venture partners are considering further optional exploration wells to follow the two firm wells to take advantage of the low cost of the DrillMax. FAR has an extensive portfolio of undrilled prospects and together with our JV partners, we are keen to progress evaluation of the full Senegal PSC licence area now that we have a commercially viable project at SNE.

This area represents one of the world’s most attractive emerging basins for oil and gas exploration as seen by the recent farm-in by BP to Kosmos’ acreage to the north of FAR’s blocks.”

FAR poised for continued success in 2017

FAR has achieved significant results to date and the drilling highlighted in this release together with other FAR activities planned over 2017 have potential to add further value. Some of the key achievements of FAR offshore Senegal are listed below.

Farmed down part of FAR’s interest offshore Senegal to Cairn Energy and ConocoPhillips for US$196m carry and cash in 2013
Discovered new, world-class, deep water oil plays offshore Senegal in the FAN-1 and SNE-1 wells in 2014
SNE was rated as the world’s largest discovery in 2014 by IHS
Drilled 4 highly successful SNE appraisal wells in 2015/2016, proving SNE is a world class oil field capable of delivering commercial oil flow rates
Increased the SNE contingent recoverable resource base from a 2C of 330mmbbls* to a 2C of 641mmbls* (and undergone 3 separate independent technical expert update/audits from RISC) (refer ASX announcement 23 August 2016)
Passed MEFS (minimum economic field size) for the SNE field, completed a detailed development plan for a phased devevelopment of SNE and and made a statement on commerciality (refer ASX announcement 1 September 2016)
Senegal joint venture now committed to pre-FEED development activity at SNE
Undertook three high-impact social programs in Senegal outside programs undertaken with the joint venture
Used FAR’s unique understanding of the Senegalese plays to lever into neighbouring acreage and change the exploration focus of the Guinea Bissau JV
Awarded “Breakthrough company of the year for Africa” in 2016 by oil industry peers