FAR sets spud date for Gambian well

Australia’s FAR Limited has set the date for the drilling of Bambo-1 well, offshore The Gambia, scheduled to start on 13 November 2021.

The company reported in June this year that Stena IceMax, a Stena Drilling-owned rig, was contracted to drill the Bambo-1 exploration well, as part of FAR’s hope for a discovery that could lead to the country’s first oil production.

The firm in June confirmed the timetable for the drilling of the Bambo-1 well offshore The Gambia by executing the contract with Stena Drilling to start drilling operations between 1 October and 30 November 2021.

FAR is the operator with a 50 per cent working interest in the Gambia Blocks A2 and A5, while PC Gambia, a subsidiary of Petronas is the firm’s joint venture partner.

FAR confirmed on Monday that operational and logistics planning for the drilling of the Bambo-1 well in offshore Block A2 was well advanced. The IceMax drillship is scheduled to be in Las Palmas in late October to complete preparations and loading before mobilising to The Gambia.

The spud date for the Bambo-1 well is now planned for 13 November this year. FAR contracted Exceed’s wells management team in Aberdeen to assist with the planning and execution of the well.

Based on FAR’s statement, it will take approximately 30 days to drill the well to a depth of 3,266 metres in water depths of 993 metres, 85 kilometres offshore and 500 metres south of the Senegal-Gambia border.

FAR says that all major contracts for the Bambo-1 drilling project have been awarded, including the contracts with Stena for the IceMax and Schlumberger for bundled services. Furthermore, contracts for marine support vessels and helicopter services have also been awarded and most long-lead materials and supplies have been received. These are available at several locations in readiness for the operational phase of the project.

Located at Dakar, Senegal, the shore base for the project is now fully operational and ready to support the upcoming drilling activities. The well is designed to drill into a series of vertically stacked targets with a combined estimated recoverable, prospective resource of 1,118 mmbbls.

There are three target reservoirs and the first one is Bambo, which is a shallower reservoir not intersected during the Senegal campaign. The second one is Soloo, which is the extension of the hydrocarbon-bearing reservoirs in the adjacent Sangomar oil field, offshore Senegal, while the third one is Soloo Deep. These are two additional horizons, also not penetrated during the Senegal drilling campaigns.

FAR explains that Soloo Deep has a lower chance of success but higher potential volumes. The estimated quantities of petroleum that may potentially be recovered by the future application of a development project relate to undiscovered accumulations. These estimates have an associated risk of discovery and further risk of development. Therefore, further exploration and appraisal is required to determine the existence of a significant quantity of potentially moveable hydrocarbons.

FAR’s approved budget for the Bambo-1 well is $51 million with $11.4 million expended to date. As the company has a 50 per cent working interest, its share of the budgeted well cost is $25.5 million with $19.8 million yet to be spent. The firm’s share of the well cost will be funded from cash at hand.

The company completed successful case planning in the event of a discovery, outside well preparations for the drilling of the Bambo-1 well.

The firm confirms it will continue to review opportunities for additional acreage in a successful case, while also progressing its evaluation efforts for the additional prospects – Jobo, Jatto and Malo – in A2 and A5 licences. FAR claims that the success in the Bambo-1 well will high grade these other prospects for drilling in the future.