UK’s Cairn Energy and Senegal joint venture partners have decided to drill two appraisal wells on the SNE oil field off Senegal in early 2017 using the Stena Drilling’s 2007-built drillship, Stena DrillMAX, Ecofin Agency reported.
The drilling and assessment plan is for SNE-5 to go through drill stem testing (DST) and have permanent gauges placed in the upper reservoir units. The SNE-6 is to be drilled after the SNE-5 well, and it will also undergo an extended DST program. The wells will be drilled in order to optimize the SNE field development plan before submission to the Senegalese government for approval, informed Offshore Energy Today.
Cairn, as the operator, has a 40% working interest in the three blocks offshore Senegal, which are Sangomar Deep, Sangomar Offshore, Rufisque Offshore. ConocoPhillips has 35% stake, FAR Limited 15% , and 10% belongs to Petrosen, the national oil company of Senegal.
Far said that the joint venture is progressing towards the submission of a development plan for the SNE field, with pre-FEED activities currently focused on determining the final project size and scope. The SNE-5 and SNE-6 wells are expected to provide important data for SNE reservoir management and will play a key role in optimizing the proposed SNE project development.
