FAR, Petronas sign revised offshore Gambia accords

Offshore staff

MELBOURNE, Australia – FAR has signed new joint operating agreements (JOAs) for the blocks A2 and A5 offshore the Gambia with Petronas subsidiary PC Gambia.

This follows granting by the government of new licenses for the blocks effective Oct. 1, 2019. The partners then took the opportunity to update the terms of the existing JOAs by entering the new agreements.

FAR, which remains operator, is seeking an additional partner for drilling the next well (following the previous dry-hole Samo-1) and aims to conclude a farm-out before the re-start of drilling.

Both blocks are south of the Sangomar field development off Senegal in which FAR is a partner to operator Woodside Energy. They cover around 2,682 sq km (1,036 sq mi) within the Mauritania-Senegal-Guinea-Bissau-Conakry) basin and are 30 km (19 mi) offshore, in water depths ranging from 50-1,200 m (164-3,937 ft).

FAR estimates prospective resources across the two blocks at more than 1 Bbbl of oil.

The company and Petronas have been looking to test the S400 series sands (potentially 152 MMbbl) in the Bambo structure, which may be the southern culmination of Sangomar extending into the Gambia.

One possibility could be a single well to intersect both this target and a shallower, secondary target at the S390 sand (464 MMbbl).

Although the Samo-1 well campaign team was reassembled late last year, drilling activities remain suspended for the time being due to COVID-19 restrictions.

06/25/2020