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New oil work on tap for offshore Senegal

Australian energy company FAR Ltd. said it will drill into one of the larger regional oil discoveries.

By Daniel J. Graeber
Australian energy company FAR Ltd. says new drilling offshore Senegal will be the first such activity since a major discovery in 2014. Image courtesy of FAR Ltd.
Australian energy company FAR Ltd. says new drilling offshore Senegal will be the first such activity since a major discovery in 2014. Image courtesy of FAR Ltd.

April 26 (UPI) -- The next well slated for emerging oil prospects off the coast of Senegal will be the first such activity since a major discovery in 2014, FAR Ltd. announced.

The Australian company, which has a core focus offshore West Africa, announced plans for an exploration well in the southern section of the FAN prospect off the coast of Senegal

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"FAN South-1 is the first well drilled into the basin play since the initial FAN-1 discovery well in 2014," the company announced. "The well will assess the upside potential for improved reservoir presence and quality in the basin."

The company in early April announced that it was over-subscribed for a placement of 1 billion shares, generating around $60 billion in capital to fund drilling, evaluation and pre-development programs off the coast of Senegal, and potentially the acquisition of further assets off the Gambian coast.

In its latest update, the company said the southern FAN prospect holds 134 million barrels of recoverable oil on best estimates. By the company's estimates, more than 1.5 billion barrels of oil may be in basins off the coast of Senegal.

FAR is focused on the broader Mauritania-Senegal-Guinea-Bissau basin. With eight regional oil discoveries so far, the company said MSGB is quickly emerging as an exploration hot spot.

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"We are drilling in a part of the basin where we expect to encounter improved reservoir presence and quality and gain valuable information in understanding the substantial potential of the large deep water basin area," Cath Norman, the company's managing director, said in a statement.

The company in March entered into a partnership with the British subsidiary of China National Offshore Oil Corp. that defines areas of mutual interest off the coast of Gambia and Senegal. FAR Ltd. holds its annual general meeting May 29.

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