BP, Kosmos announce major gas find offshore Senegal
BP along with joint venture partner Kosmos Energy announced a major gas discovery offshore Senegal.
Yakaar-1 is the first well in a series of four independent tests of the basin floor fan fairways, outboard of the proven slope channel trend opened with the Tortue-1 discovery. The exploration well was drilled to a total depth of approximately 4,700 m in nearly 2,550 m of water in the Cayar Offshore Profond block by the Atwood Achiever drillship.
Yakaar-1 intersected a gross hydrocarbon column of 120 m (394 ft) in three pools within the primary Lower Cenomanian objective and encountered 45 m (148 ft) of net pay. Well results confirm the presence of thick, stacked, reservoir sands over a very large area with very good porosity and permeability.
Bernard Looney, BP Upstream Chief Executive Officer, commented, “Yakaar-1 follows the earlier exploration success that led to the Tortue discovery and further confirms our belief that offshore Senegal and Mauritania is a world-class hydrocarbon basin. This discovery marks an important further step in building BP’s new business in Mauritania and Senegal. We look forward to results from the additional exploration wells planned for 2017.”
Andrew G. Inglis, Kosmos Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, said, “Kosmos has a 100 percent success rate in the basin with six consecutive successful exploration and appraisal wells drilled to date, confirming that our geologic model and geophysical tools are well calibrated. Yakaar-1 discovered a major gas resource. Together with the Teranga – 1 discovery made last year, we believe this resource will support a second cost-competitive LNG hub. The result also confirms our view of the potential scale of the petroleum system offshore Mauritania and Senegal, in particular the basin floor fan systems which have now been further de – risked, with the well demonstrating that reservoir and trap both work in these previously untested fairways.”
Kosmos estimates Yakaar-1 discovered a gross Pmean gas resource of approximately 15 trillion cubic feet, in-line with pre-drill expectations. Preliminary analysis of gas samples conducted on the rig suggest the well encountered a gas with a condensate-to-gas ratio in the range previously encountered at Tortue and Teranga, approximately 15-30 barrels per million standard cubic feet. An appraisal program is being planned to delineate the Yakaar discovery.
The Yakaar discovery, coupled with the Teranga discovery, creates the foundation for a further LNG hub in the basin.
After completion of operations on the Yakaar-1 well, the Atwood Achiever will mobilize to the Tortue-1 well to conduct a drill stem test on the Tortue discovery, enabling the commencement of Front End Engineering Design in the second half of 2017, Final Investment Decision in 2018 and first gas in 2021. BP and Kosmos will now drill 3 additional exploration wells over the next 12 months offshore of Senegal and Mauritania.
