Woodside Energy has dropped plans to sell down a stake in its Senegal project, the offshore Sangomar development.
“Following extensive discussions with potential new partners, we have decided to discontinue the sell-down of equity in Sangomar,” Woodside Energy CEO Meg O’Neill said today. She was commenting on the company’s second quarter.
The company did not reveal what the sticking point had been with potential partners. Given commodity price fluctuations it may have been hard to agree a price.
Woodside has a 82% interest in Sangomar and a 90% stake in the wider licence. The company had said it planned to sell down to around 40-50% in 2021.
Sangomar was 63% complete as of the end of the quarter.
“Installation of the mooring system for the floating production, storage and offloading facility at the Sangomar field has been completed and the second drillship, the Ocean BlackHawk, commenced drilling in July,” O’Neill said.
The Ocean BlackRhino began drilling on Sangomar in July 2021.
Woodside expects the subsea installation campaign to begin in the third quarter of this year. In addition, the FPSO for the field should leave its Chinese shipyard in October this year and travel to the Keppel Shipyard, in Singapore.
In the second quarter, spending on the Sangomar project reached $207 million, taking the year to date spend to $449mn.
The first phase at Sangomar will produce 100,000 barrels per day, from 23 subsea wells. It is due to begin producing in 2023.