The Australian oil company, FAR, has selected its final well location for the Samo-1 well in block A2 offshore The Gambia, the first in the region for 40 years.
This follows reprocessing and interpretation of 3D seismic data, detailed mapping of the Samo prospect and detailed well engineering.
Samo is in the Mauritania-Senegal-Guinea-Bissau-Conakry (MSGBC) basin, to the south and along trend from the deepwater SNE oil field offshore Senegal.
The well will be drilled 112 km (70 mi) offshore Gambia in 1,017 m (3,336 ft) water depth, with two main targets; an upper reservoir interval (the same that contains liquid-rich gas at SNE) and a lower reservoir interval that delivered oil at SNE.
Combined prospective resources within the two intervals are estimated at up to 825 MMbbl.
Interpretation indicates good quality reservoirs at both levels at the proposed location and the well will be drilled on the crest of the structure, with the drillship Stena DrillMax probably starting operations in early 4Q.
Drilling should last around 40 days, assuming no complications.
Source: Offshore online