Kosmos makes significant Senegal find

Dallas, Texas-based Kosmos Energy has laid claim to more than 25 Tcf of gas in the Senegal-Mauritania fairway after making its latest gas discovery.

Kosmos says the “significant” Teranga-1 deepwater exploration well, in the Cayar Offshore Profond block, offshore Senegal, about 65km northwest of Dakar in nearly 1800m water depth, hit 31m (102ft of net gas pay in good quality reservoir in the Lower Cenomanian objective. 

The well, drilled using the Atwood Achiever ultra-deepwater drillship, is Kosmos’ fifth consecutive successful exploration and appraisal well in the Mauritania-Senegal fairway, which has resulted in discovering 25 Tcf gross Pmean resources, with a 50 Tcf potential to be tapped, the company says.

The area the firm has been targeting is an inboard gas fairway extending about 200km from the Marsouin-1 well in Mauritania, through the Greater Tortue area on the maritime boundary, to the Teranga-1 well in Senegal. 

The Guembuel-1 discovery was announced in January this year, in the St. Louis Offshore Profond license area in Senegal, just 5km south of the Tortue-1 discovery.  In November last year, the Marsouin-1 well in Block C8, offshore Mauritania was announced as a natural gas discovery. The Tortue-1 well, described as a play-opened, was announced before that, in April 2015, also in Block C8 offshore Mauritania. 

Andrew G. Inglis, Kosmos’ chairman and CEO, says: “We have opened a super-major scale basin offshore Mauritania and Senegal with world-class resource potential. Given the scale and quality of the gas resource discovered along the inboard trend, our focus is to move this resource through to development. Our forward exploration plan is to mature the two independent tests with oil potential in northern Mauritania and in the outboard of Mauritania and Senegal for drilling in 2017.”

Late last year, Kosmos agreed a deal with Atwood Oceanics to extend a contract for use of the Atwood Achiever drillship at a reduced rate, for Kosmos’ activities offshore northwest Africa.

Atwood and Kosmos originally entered a three-year deal for the vessel on 12 November 2014, which the extension now gives the contract an end date of 12 November 2018. The adjusted dayrate will be US$495,500, net of taxes, compared to $595,000 a day, and $660,000 gross, inclusive of taxes.

Kosmos holds a 60% interest in the Teranga-1 well, along with Timis Corporation, with 30%, and Société des Pétroles du Sénégal (Petrosen) with 10%. 

Since 2014, Kosmos has held rights to conduct exploration in the St. Louis Offshore Profond and Cayar Offshore Profond license areas under production sharing contracts with the Government of Senegal.