Cairn Energy PLC announced that it discovered oil at the deep portion of FAN South-1 well basin in the South Fan prospect offshore Senegal, and said that further work will be undertaken to establish the potential commerciality of the deep water resources
In a statement, the company said it found a hydrocarbon bearing reservoir (lower cretaceous) at its FAN South-1 well and the preliminary analysis indicated 31 degree API oil quality.
The company mentioned that the well has now been plugged and abandoned to integrate the test result with the result of the prospect.
FAN South-1 is located in 90km offshore in 2,175 metres water depth in the Sangomar deep offshore block in Senegal.
Cairn explained that the well focuses on targeting dual prospects, an upper cretaceous stacked multi-layer channelised turbidite fan prospect and a lower cretaceous base of slope turbidite fan prospect.
The company pointed that the FAN South is its 10th well in Senegal in last three years and second well to encounter oil in the deep portion of the basin, adjacent to the FAN discovery.
The drilling rig is now moving location to start operations at the SNE North exploration prospect, which is 15km north of the SNE-1 discovery well and the most northerly location yet tested.
The company further added that the SNE North is planning a prospective volume of more than 80 mmbbls of total resource in multiple objectives, noting that the well is located in 900m water depth with a projected total depth of the well being 2,800m.
Commenting on the drill test, Simon Thomson, CEO of Cairn Energy, said, “The results of FAN South will be integrated with FAN-1 and SNE to help the joint venture’s ongoing evaluation of the large, deep water basin potential offshore Senegal.”
“As planning for the phased development of the SNE field moves ahead, we will shortly commence operations on the SNE North prospect which has the potential to enhance our total resources in Senegal,” Thomson added.
