BP has hailed a major gas find off the West African coast as proof of a “world-class” hydrocarbon basin.
It is the second major gas discovery offshore Senegal found by the supermajor, who is in a joint venture with Kosmos Energy.
The Yakaar-1 exploration well was drilled to a total depth of approximately 4,700 meters in nearly 2,550 metres of water.
The operation, in the Cayar Offshore Profond block, was carried out by the Atwood Achiever drillship.
The Yakaar discovery, coupled with the nearby 2016 discovered gas play at Teranga 1, creates the foundation for a further LNG hub in the basin, BP say.
Bernard Looney, BP Upsteam chief executive officer, said: “Yakaar-1 follows the earlier exploration success that led to the Tortue discovery and further confirms our belief that offshore Senegal and Mauritania is a world-class hydrocarbon basin.
“This discovery marks an important further step in building BP’s new business in Mauritania and Senegal. We look forward to results from the additional exploration wells planned for 2017.”
BP and Kosmos will be drill stem testing the Tortue discovery in mid-2017 and will now drill three additional exploration wells over the next 12 months offshore of Senegal and Mauritania.
Back in April, the supermajor agreed to deepen its investment in Senegal by acquiring the full 30% minority participating interests that Timis Corporation held in the Saint-Louis Profond and Cayar Profond blocks offshore Senegal.
This is subject to government approval and follows BP’s entry into Mauritania and Senegal through an agreement with Kosmos Energy, announced in December 2016.
The Saint-Louis Offshore Profond block includes the Senegalese sector of the cross border Tortue (Ahmeyim-Guembuel) field and significant future prospectivity.
Tortue is estimated to contain more than 15 trillion cubic feet of discovered gas resources.
On completion of the agreements, participating interests in the Senegal blocks will be similar to the aligned partnership in Mauritania, with BP holding participating and effective working interests of close to 60%, Kosmos close to 30% and Société des Pétroles du Sénégal (Petrosen) 10%.
Formerly known as Teranga West, Yakaar-1 is in the Cayar Offshore Profond block roughly 95 kilometres northwest of Dakar. In May of 2016, Kosmos announced another significant gas discovery approximately 40 kilometres to the east at the Teranga-1 exploration well.
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