Gas has been discovered by FAR Limited and its partners in the BEL-1 well offshore Senegal.
The BEL-1 well has also proven the northern extent of the world class SNE field, continued FAR’s unbroken run with five wells encountering hydrocarbons from five wells drilled and further confirms the opening of a major new global oil and gas province in offshore West Africa.
FAR Ltd managing director, Cath Norman, said, “This is yet another amazing result for FAR and its team. Its track record in an entirely new province of five consecutive successful wells is a testament to the FAR team of professionals and demonstrates what creative and dedicated small companies can achieve.”
The operational performance of the Ocean Rig Athena and the operations team on BEL-1 well has again been outstanding completing the well ahead of schedule and budget justifying the Joint Venture’s decision to proceed with a fourth appraisal well. We look forward to the results of the SNE-4 well which we expect will start in the next few days.”
Initial exploration results from the successful BEL-1 well include:
Gas discovered in the Bellatrix exploration prospect in a series of stacked sandstones.
Two good quality gas bearing sandstone reservoirs in lower zones (8 metres net) with upper zones interpreted to be tight.
No water-bearing units encountered.
Potential for down-dip oil with extensive structural closure.
Buried Hills play type confirmed and de-risked for future exploration.
The BEL-1 well also provided significant and highly positive appraisal information about the SNE field, which lies below Bellatrix.
BEL-1 well SNE appraisal results include:
Gas-Oil and Oil-Water depths indicate an oil column of approximately 100m gross at BEL-1, similar to gross oil columns seen in the SNE-1, SNE-2 and SNE-3 appraisal wells.
Confirms the extension of reservoirs and oil column in the northern flank of the SNE field.
Good quality reservoir sands within the reservoir units.
Good correlation and presence of the principal reservoir units between the SNE-1, SNE-2, SNE-3 and BEL-1 wells over a distance of more than 9 kilometres.
Multiple samples of gas, oil and water recovered to surface.
Initial measurements show similar oil quality as seen in SNE-1, SNE-2 and SNE-3.
144m of continuous core taken across the entire oil reservoir interval with 100% recovery.
The BEL-1 well was the first well to target the shallow Buried Hills exploration play, just one of multiple exploration play types identified within FAR’s offshore Senegal blocks.
The BEL-1 well result confirms the Buried Hills play type and the presence of good reservoirs and regionally extensive seals. These shallower reservoirs were also encountered in SNE-3, 9kms to the south. With the discovery of gas in good shallow reservoirs, the BEL-1 well results along with the latest 3D seismic, will be incorporated into the assessment for potential down-dip oil in shallower reservoirs across FAR’s Senegal blocks including the Djiffere permit.
The successful appraisal well results from the BEL-1 well are expected to support another revision of FAR’s resource estimates for the SNE field.
Fourth appraisal well to be drilled Given the success of the ongoing appraisal programme, the Joint Venture has agreed that the Ocean Rig Athena will now drill SNE-4, located 5 km south-east of the SNE-1 discovery well, to appraise the eastern extent of the field, where it is aiming to confirm the nature of the upper reservoirs in the oil zone.
The BEL-1 well was located in 1,031m water depth and was drilled to a total depth of 2,767m TVD. The well was drilled, cored and logged as planned and completed ahead of schedule. FAR’s Senegal Joint Venture partners are: Cairn Energy PLC (Operator) 40%, ConocoPhillips 35% and Petrosen 10%.
Source: Gulf Oil And Gas
