By Toyin Akinosho, Lagos
Cairn Energy and partners are considering an initial well count of approximately 25 wells for the first phase of development of the SNE field in deepwater Senegal.
The project is the first major oil development in the Northwest African margin.
The wells will be principally drilled in the field’s “S500 lower reservoirs”.
It is anticipated that other discoveries, e.g Fan South and SNE North, may be developed and tied to the SNE field development afterwards.
But all these considerations are at concept selection stage now and a clear decision is still a little far ahead.
“The development concept being considered by the joint venture is a standalone FPSO facility with subsea wells and infrastructure”, FAR Limited declares in a just released report. “The project will be designed to allow flexibility for anticipated subsequent development”.
Although FAR Ltd is a 15% non operating partner in the venture, it has been the more vocal with updates than operator Cairn Energy.
The joint venture aims to have all Government approvals in place by the end of 2018, with a target of first oil in 2021-2023.
The extensive SNE field with an area covering approximately 350km2 has been assessed by FAR to contain 640MMbbls on a full field basis (100% basis, best estimate, Contingent Resources, unrisked). This means less than 450MMbbls in terms of proven oil.
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“In line with the terms of the Production Sharing Contract with the Government of Senegal, the joint venture has made a submission to evaluate the SNE North discovery and an application to evaluate the FAN South discovery is currently being compiled”, FAR explains in the note. “Both discoveries are in tie-back range of a hub development at SNE and, if the appraisal is successful, will be tied into the SNE development in later phases of development.
