Kosmos hits ‘major’ gas discovery off Senegal

Oil and gas exploration and production company Kosmos Energy on Monday announced what it claims to be a “major” gas discovery offshore Senegal.

According to the company’s statement, 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 company said that the well, located in the Cayar Offshore Profond block approximately 95 kilometers northwest of Dakar in nearly 2,550 meters of water, has been drilled to a total depth of approximately 4,700 meters by the Atwood Achiever drillship.

The company further said that the Yakaar-1 intersected a gross hydrocarbon column of 120 meters (394 feet) in three pools within the primary Lower Cenomanian objective and encountered 45 meters (148 feet) of net pay.

Well results confirm the presence of thick, stacked, reservoir sands over a very large area with very good porosity and permeability, Kosmos added.

Andrew G. Inglis, 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.”

Yakaar discovery

Kosmos estimates that Yakaar-1 discovered a gross Pmean gas resource of approximately 15 trillion cubic feet (Tcf), 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 (CGR) 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.

After completion of operations on the Yakaar-1 well, the Atwood Achiever drillship will mobilize to the Tortue-1 well to conduct a drill stem test (DST) on the Tortue discovery, enabling the beginning of Front End Engineering Design (FEED) in the second half of 2017, Final Investment Decision (FID) in 2018 and first gas in 2021.

Kosmos and BP each presently hold an effective 30% participating interest in the Cayar Offshore Profond license as a result of their respective ownership in the joint venture company, Kosmos BP Senegal Limited. As previously announced, BP has entered into an agreement to acquire an additional 30% participating interest from Timis Corporation, subject to government approval. The national oil company Société des Pétroles du Sénégal (Petrosen) holds 10%.

Bernard Looney, BP Upsteam 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.”

BP said that the joint venture will be drill stem testing the Tortue discovery in mid-2017 and will now drill 3 additional exploration wells over the next 12 months offshore of Senegal and Mauritania.

Acreage offshore Senegal is proving to be a prolific hydrocarbon province with several discoveries made by oil companies including the SNE discovery – the world’s largest offshore oil discovery in 2014.

Offshore Energy Today Staff