Cairn Energy, a London-listed oil company, has shed some light on the development progress of its large SNE oil discovery offshore Senegal.
The company said on Monday detailed planning was underway for the for phased development of SNE field using a standalone FPSO with subsea wells and expansion capability.
According to Cairn, engagement with major contractors has started prior to formal tendering for the FPSO and subsea infrastructure later this year.
The transfer of operatorship to Australia’s Woodside for the development phase is planned to take place next year with Cairn continuing exploration activities on the acreage.
The JV plans to submit an evaluation report and exploitation plan to the Government of Senegal in 2018. The Front End Engineering and Design (FEED) is also planned to start next year with a FID targeted before the end of 2018.
Cairn estimates that the first phase of the SNE development will target ~240mmbbls principally in the S500 lower reservoirs with an initial target plateau of 75,000-125,000 bopd (dependent on FPSO capacity). The initial well count is up to 25 with oil producers, water and gas injectors. First oil is targeted from 2021 to 2023.
The subsequent development phases will target the S400 upper reservoirs and additional areas, with current Cairn estimates of an additional well count of 40 wells, with 20 producers and 20 water injectors.
The current SNE development plans assume gas re-injection during initial development with the potential for gas export in later phases. It is estimated that the SNE field holds more than 1 TcF recoverable non associated gas and 0.3 TcF of associated gas.
Cairn (Operator) has a 40% WI in three blocks offshore Senegal (Sangomar Deep, Sangomar Offshore and Rusique Offshore) alongside partners, Woodside 35% WI, FAR Ltd 15% WI and the Senegal National Oil Company, Petrosen 10% WI.