Offshore Senegal focus of Woodside developmental study

March 13 (UPI) -- Offshore Senegal is receiving more interest in oil developments with studies on performance contracted by an Australian player, a services company said.

Services company Wood, an offshoot of Amec Foster Wheeler and Wood Group, said it was awarded contracts to provide studies on the SNE field off the coast of Senegal by Australian energy company Woodside Petroleum.

"We have significant operational, design and verification experience in West Africa and look forward to applying our flexible concept evaluation and design optimization solutions to support Woodside in the development of this important deepwater project," Bob MacDonald, CEO of Wood's specialist technical solutions business, said in a statement.

Wood added that it would help with an engineering assessment on the potential to utilize floating production storage and offloading facilities offshore Senegal.

The broader West African basin is gaining a reputation as an emerging producer and Senegal in particular could hold more than 1.5 billion barrels of oil off its coast.

The initial oil discovery at the SNE field was made in 2014 and the find was quickly lauded as one of the largest. The SNE oil field, which counts Cairn Energy as a partner, met the minimum threshold to be considered a commercial opportunity by the third quarter of 2016.

Wood Group announced plans in March 2017 to purchase Amec Foster Wheeler for $2.6 billion in a move that combined two of Britain's largest energy services companies. With oil and gas revenue dropping 18 percent, British project manager Amec Foster Wheeler said at the time it was moving in the right direction by merging with Wood Group.

Woodside acquired a 65 percent interest in a production-sharing contract offshore Senegal and Guinea-Bissau in 2016. That deal alone meant the company increased its best estimate of contingent resources by 230 percent.