Australia’s FAR has awarded a contract to acquire 3D seismic in The Gambia to Shearwater GeoServices.
The survey should take one month to complete and will focus on parts of the A5 block, in the MSGBC Basin. The seismic company said the work would be carried out by SW Amundsen and would focus on a shallow-water area.
This 3D Isometrix seismic acquisition will complement existing seismic and provide full coverage of the block. The contract was signed by FAR Gambia, the Australian company’s local subsidiary.
“We are excited to be working offshore the Gambia for FAR and for the first time provide high quality Isometrix multi-sensor data for this area,” said Shearwater GeoServices’ CEO Irene Waage Basili. “This will be our second project in the MSGBC Basin this year after working at the world-class Sangomar field directly to the north.”
FAR plans to drill a well offshore The Gambia this year. It drilled the Samo-1 with Petronas in 2018, which was found to have water in the main target.
FAR signed new licences with the Gambian government, effective as of the beginning of October 2019, on the A2 and A5 blocks. These saw the Australian company’s stake increase by 10%, to 50%. The licence has an initial period of three years, with two potential extensions.
Shearwater announced the award of a high-density multi-azimuth 3D seismic shoot on the Sangomar field in May 2019. The work was awarded to it by Woodside Energy, which is working with FAR on the Senegalese field. The contract covered the three blocks, Sangomar, Sangomar Deep and Rufisque Offshore. Data was acquired by the Polar Marquis, starting in the third quarter of last year and taking around three months.
FAR, in an October update, said it believed it had found prospects off The Gambia that were similar to the shelf edge plays in Senegal. The four main prospects it has identified off The Gambia hold prospective resources of 1.2 billion barrels. On the A2 block it has the Soloo and Bambo prospects, with Malo on A5 and the Jobo prospect lying on the border of the two areas.