Drilling on a pair of high-profile deepwater wells offshore Senegal is about to resume after delays due to rig maintenance.

Updating progress on the Cairn Energy-operated FAN-1 well, Australian drilling partner FAR said that drilling is due to resume soon. Already the frontier FAN-1 well has been drilled to a depth of 3,000 m (9,840 ft) by the semisubmersible Transocean Cajun Express and reached a point above the target reservoir. The well is due to be drilled to a total depth of 5,300 m (17,384 ft) TVD, with a second well, SNE-1, suspended ready for re-entry.

Based on the delays to date, FAR indicates it could be required to make an additional contribution to the cost of the drilling program of up to US $22.5 million, although the company has so far received US $20.2 million from farm-out deals with Cairn and ConocoPhillips, which were completed a year ago.

With the drilling update, FAR’s managing director Cath Norman stated, “It is disappointing to have suffered a significant delay to drilling, but pleasingly once the current maintenance program is completed, we should reach our first target zone in a matter of days, not weeks.”

FAN-1 is targeting the North Fan prospect, a stacked structure with predrill potential estimated at 900 MMbbl—with 135 MMbbl net to FAR. The prospect lies in a water depth of 1,500 m (4,921 ft) in the Sangomar Deep block about 100 km (62 miles) offshore. The SNE-1 well, which will be drilled back to back, is targeting another 600 MMbbl target with 75 MMbbl net to FAR—representing a total of 1.5?Bbbl of unrisked prospective resources.

These are the first deepwater wells off Senegal, FAR points out, and the first wells in Senegal for 20 years.

Drilling first began on FAN on 17 April, with FAR Ltd. holding 15% equity. Cairn, through its subsidiary Capricorn Senegal Ltd., holds 40%, ConocoPhillips 35% and state-owned Petrosen 10%, which is carried.

  • Cairn is also due to participate in a Kosmos Energy-operated well in the Cap Boujdour contract area offshore Morocco, with the deepwater probe due to spud in fourth-quarter 2014.
Offshore