Advertisement

Senegal's oil has good break-evens

The recovery in crude oil makes emerging production opportunities off the coast of Senegal very attractive, Australian company FAR Ltd. said.

By Daniel J. Graeber
FAR Ltd. said an oil project off the coast of Senegal has a break even price that's about $40 per barrel less than current market trends. Map courtesy of FAR Ltd.
FAR Ltd. said an oil project off the coast of Senegal has a break even price that's about $40 per barrel less than current market trends. Map courtesy of FAR Ltd.

May 30 (UPI) -- There is a strategic interest emerging in oil from offshore Senegal, where a project can break even at $35 per barrel, the chairman of developer FAR Ltd. said.

FAR is an Australian company, but has West African oil basins at the core of its portfolio. The company and its joint venture partners in March completed a geotechnical study of a 2,900 square mile permit area off the coast of Senegal that includes the flagship SNE oil discovery. The results revealed another 198 million barrels to the estimated 641 million barrels in the best estimate scenario of contingent reserves.

Advertisement

With 11 successful wells drilled to date, FAR Managing Director Cath Norman said the revision is a testament to the "fantastic opportunity" offshore Senegal. Acreage in neighboring Gambia, meanwhile, could be similar to SNE.

Nic Limb, the company's chairman, said Wednesday during the company's annual general meeting the project offshore Senegal could break even at $35 per barrel. The price for Brent crude oil, the global benchmark, was around $76 per barrel.

"Clearly the oil price is in recovery mode and we are seeing a lot of strategic interest in these barrels," he said.

Advertisement

The joint venture partners in early 2018 agreed on a development concept that includes the use of a floating production and storage offtake vessel for SNE development.

FAR said it expects the government to sign off on a development plan by the end of the year and make a final investment decision on SNE by 2019.

The company is in international arbitration over the 2016 sale by ConocoPhillips of its 35 percent stake in contracts offshore Senegal to rival Woodside Petroleum. The settlement of that case could determine FAR's equity share.

"Our current assets and operations are not at risk in the arbitration process," Limb added.

Latest Headlines