SNE plans firmed

From WEL today at the Africa down under conference in Perth:

WOODSIDE Petroleum will bring its Senegal oilfield into production by 2022 the company told the Africa Down Under mining conference this morning.
The SNE development Phase 1 schedule is on track for the deepwater oil development that Woodside has a 35% share in, and that it will soon operate.

The other partners are Cairn Energy, FAR Limited and Petrosen.

A number of important items have been ticked off in the lead up to next year's final investment decision business integration manager for Senegal field development Jamie Stewart told the conference.

This includes the submission of the draft Environmental and Social Impact assessment report and the SNE field development evaluation report.

The company said it and its Rufisque, Sangomar and Sangamor Deep joint venture partners were evaluating tender responses for key contracts, and locking in cost reductions approaching 10%, reiterating what CEO Peter Coleman previously said during a half-year results briefing in mid-August.

Woodside said one of the coming decisions would be selecting a contractor for front-end engineering and design for the proposed FPSO for Phase 1. That FPSO is expected to produce some 100,000bopd.

The project will be Senegal's first oil field and the first phase plans to commercialise about 240 million barrels of oil.

It will generate billions of dollars for the Senegalese government, Stewart said.

He said a major focus of local development would be the Port of Dakar, a critical piece of infrastructure for the Phase 1 development.

The SNE field commercialisation concept is based on a phased development proposal, focusing first on the less complex lower reservoir units.

Subsequent phases will target more complex reservoir units, such as the Upper 400 series which Coleman has previously called "quite complex".

Phase 1 will include up to 26 oil production and gas and water injection wells.

Woodside said gas sales opportunities were being explored to support incremental gas export.


Cheers BF.